No Falling for the Competition
by ShayP
Summary: Natsuki is the current underground motorcycle racing champion in Fuuka. What happens when the champion of Kyoto challenges the undefeated Kuga Natsuki to a race? What about the psycho fan, Tomoe, who is in love with Shizuru? ShizNatNao
1. The Racing Champion

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai HiMe (damn), Sunrise owns Mai HiMe.

Hi this is my first fic on this site! I hope I don't disappoint :)

By the way, if you see: __________ that means a significant amount of time has passed and the location has more than likely changed.

* * *

"Natsuki!" Mai yelled as she ran to catch up with her friend.

The girl, Natsuki, had just been about to get onto her Ducati. She turned around slowly. "What is it, Mai? I'm a little tired."

Mai finally caught up to her friend and took a second to catch her breath while holding a finger up to Natsuki's face as if to say 'hold on a second.' Natsuki sighed and put her helmet back on the bike handle.

Mai lowered her finger and smiled at Natsuki's cutely annoyed face. "Calm down," Mai said patting Natsuki's shoulder. "I've got news from the Biker Club."

This got Natsuki's attention. She leaned against her bike. "Okay let's hear it."

"You've got a race challenge."

Natsuki blinked. She hadn't been challenged in _months. _In fact, once she beat Nao, the former Racing Champion, she'd turned into a mini-celebrity amongst the Bikers, and was no longer seen as possible to defeat. "What? For real? Who is it?"

Mai smiled, she knew her friend would be interested in this. Though she wasn't sure she liked Natsuki's racing hobby. How many bike accidents had the Queen of the Racetrack gotten into this past year? How many had been near-death experiences? Mai, of course, realized that if she wanted to protect her friend, she had to be as involved in said friend's ridiculously dangerous hobbies.

Mai looked at the name she had written down on her hand. "Shi-Shizur-u….Fuuj-."

Natsuki growled and grabbed Mai's hand. "I can't believe you can't read your own handwriting, let me see that." She blinked. _Wow Mai has horrible hand writing. _"Shiz-uru Fuji…Fujino? Shizuru Fujino…why does that sound so familiar?" Natsuki dropped the blushing Mai's hand and pondered this for a second. She'd definitely heard the name before. Natsuki was about to ask Mai who she thought this Shizuru was but stopped when she noticed her friend was blushing. "What the hell, Mai? What's wrong?"

Mai blinked, surprised. "Huh? What? Listen," she checked her watch. "I have to go; Mikoto must be starving! But call me later and I'll arrange the race with Fujino."

Natsuki nodded, put on her helmet, and got onto her bike. "I'll talk to you later then, Mai," Natsuki said as she put up the kickstand on her bike and revved the engine. She gave one last glance and nod to her friend who weakly waved back and was off down the road, away from Fuuka Academy, and towards her apartment.

Mai watched the disappearing back of her friend as she sped off. She had no idea how such a boyish girl could be _that _sexy. But then again, the girl was definitely blessed in the looks department.

* * *

That night Natsuki had done her research. She gave Nao a call.

"Hey, Nao?"

"Kuga? What do you want?"

Natsuki sighed. "I want to know about a Shizuru Fujino."

"Then go on Google, idiot." Nao growled as she hung up the phone. It had been months since Natsuki stole her title as Racing Champion and Nao still hadn't gotten over it. They were friends…sort of, although Nao was now having second thoughts. No one like Kuga got her blood boiling the way it did. Just hearing her voice made her heart do a couple of laps around the racetrack. It was pathetic and she knew it. She wouldn't let this get to her though. She'd still be Kuga's number on competition…and maybe win something else if she managed to beat Kuga.

Natsuki glared at her cell phone. _God that girl drives me nuts. _She instead called Tomoe, whom she didn't really know as well but decided why not?

"Hello?"

"Tomoe? It's Natsuki."

Tomoe took her eyes off her magazine and looked at something less interesting so she could focus on the conversation. "Oh, hey Kuga what do you need?"

Natsuki let out a sigh of relief and lay back onto her bed. "I was just wondering if you knew who Shizuru Fujino is."

Silence.

Natsuki blinked. "Um, hello?"

_Do I know who Shizuru Fujino is? What kind of joke is that, I worship her! _"S-sorry, Natsuki. Yeah I know who she is."

Natsuki waited for more but it didn't come. She groaned, "Okay _and?" _

The mere mention of Fujino's name sent Tomoe into her own la-la land. Natsuki's clearly annoyed voice managed to wake her up from her fantasies. "Oh right. She's an _amazing _racer! She's absolutely gorgeous and rides a purple and pink Kawasaki ninja. She's absolutely…just…" Tomoe let out a dreamy sigh.

Natsuki pulled her cell phone away from her ear and stared at it as if it were gross. She pulled it back to her ear. "Get a grip, Tomoe. I just want to know how good of a racer she is."

Tomoe was yet again pulled out of her dream-like state. "She's the best I've ever seen."

Natsuki almost said "but you've seen me race haven't you?" but realized she'd sound like an arrogant ass.

"Got it. Thanks, Tomoe." Natsuki pressed the _end _button and rested her hand over her forehead. _The best she's ever seen. Looks like I'll really need to be prepared. _

That's when Natsuki called Mai to have her arrange the race for tomorrow night.

* * *

The next night, Natsuki rode her way over to the Biker Club.

_This place really needs a name change. _She thought as she pulled up to the parking lot and turned the bike engine off. There was already a crowd gathering outside the bar. Natsuki looked around. The Biker Club was really just a seedy bar full of bike racers and those willing to place bets on illegal races. Near the bar were a racetrack and a giant lot. The usually empty lot during the day had numerous tents set up at night. People moved from tent to tent. There were mechanics that worked on the many different colored bikes, making last check ups and making sure it was A-okay for racing. Around the track were even racers doing practice laps. It was never going to be a busy night for Natsuki unless she head people placing bets outside of the bar or two people arguing over who was the better rider.

Natsuki looked towards her usual, dark blue tent. Mai was already there talking to Nao. Natsuki pulled off her helmet (ignoring the many whispers of, "She's _gorgeous!" _and "Look at her _body, wow!") _and made her way through the gawking girls and guys, even knocking over a few in the process.

"God can't you people _move?" _Natsuki grumbled.

Mai and Nao turned their heads to stare at Natsuki as she emerged from the crowds of people with a pissed of expression her face. What else was new?

"Natsuki!" Mai called happily. "I don't think Fujino-san is here yet but I'll be sure to let you know when she gets here."

"Kuga," Nao nodded with an impish smile on her face as she looked Natsuki up and down. "Nice rider suit. Is it new?"

Natsuki blinked and looked down at the rider suit she's been wearing for years. Of course it wasn't the same old one…she ripped way too many, some even beyond repair. But it was definitely, well, the same style. "Uh, no?"

Mai gave Nao then Natsuki a weird look then retreated into the tent.

_Did Nao just compliment me? _Natsuki wondered as she eyed her not-so-favorite red-head.

Nao caught the suspicious look and glared. "What are you looking at, Kuga? I'm not a piece of meat."

Natsuki coughed nervously and turned bright red. She finally regained her original color then, with a glare, shoved past Nao and entered her tent. _Okay that was weird. _

Natsuki fell back onto the couch and sighed. Tonight barely started and she was already exhausted.

"You okay, Natsuki?" Mai asked as she sat next to her friend.

Natsuki nodded. "I'm fine, Mai." Honestly though? Natsuki hadn't gotten any sleep after that phone call with Tomoe. Usually she wasn't one to worry about races…but this one felt different. This woman who she _knew _she's heard of before but just can't remember had kept her up worrying all night. Natsuki didn't really care much about what others thought of her, but she really did like the Racer Champion title.

Mai left Natsuki to her thoughts and went outside to continue discussing…_whatever _with Nao.

Suddenly, the bickering of the outside spectators got louder. Natsuki realized they must've been all gathered outside her tent. "For the love of—what _now?" _Natsuki muttered as she rose from her laid back, basically sprawled position on the couch.

She flung back the flap of her tent…but collided head on with another person. They fell. Natsuki's back hit the ground with a thud. "_Ow," _she groaned. When she opened her emerald eyes she took in a sharp breath. There, staring down at her, were the most oddly colored eyes. Was it some sort of light brown? Almost…reddish.

"Ara, I hadn't expected us to hit it off so well at first," the other, older girl's honey-filled voice said. "You are _Natsuki, _correct?"

Natsuki stared up dumbfounded. Was this…was this Shizuru? "C-correct…" Natsuki made a move to get up, but Shizuru stayed still. Their faces were now mere inches from each other. Natsuki blushed then swallowed.

A slow smile spread across Shizuru's face. She leaned forward slightly, and right before Natsuki looked like she was going to faint, Shizuru pulled back and stood up. Natsuki exhaled slowly. What had just happened?

Shizuru held out a hand, Natsuki took it and was helped up off the ground. She dusted herself off then held out a hand. "I'm Kuga Natsuki."

Shizuru stared at the hand with a strange amused expression on her face. "I know. We've been over this. Do _you _know who _I _am is the question."

Natsuki let her hand fall to her side. "Fujino Shizuru?"

Shizuru nodded. "I hope I didn't hurt Natsuki? I would've knocked but…there is no door."

Natsuki gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine. Are you alright? Sorry about that, I tend to rush into things." Natsuki was actually a little surprised they weren't bad-mouthing each other yet and bragging about who had won more races. That was sort of how it normally went.

"I'm quite alright. Now about the race…" Shizuru waltzed right into Natsuki's tent and calmly seated herself on the couch Natsuki had previously been sprawled out on.

Natsuki exchanged glances with Mai and Nao who had been outside watching. They both shrugged, Shizuru was a strange one alright. Strange and beautiful.

Natsuki followed Shizuru to the couch and hovered about a bit awkwardly. Sitting next to her would be…weird wouldn't it? What was she doing on _her _couch anyways? The woman acts like she's some sort of queen. Last time Natsuki checked, she was the reigning queen around here.

"Listen," Natsuki said in her usual annoyed tone, "Are we going to do this or what?"

Shizuru looked up from under long eyelashes. "Do _what?" _She asked ever so sweetly.

Natsuki had the strangest urge to hold her nose as if she had a nosebleed coming on. _What the hell? _She shook off the feeling and pointed outside the tent. "Race."

* * *

Okay end of first chapter! Hope everyone liked it PLEASE review and tell me what you think. Should I change anything? Is anything wrong? I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors.

**Next Chapter Preview:** Natsuki and Shizuru get ready to race…but not before doing the whole "If I win you do this, if you win I do this..."

Nao realizes Shizuru is a threat…and Tomoe sets up a trap for Natsuki.

Who will win the race? Or _will _they finish? Stay tuned :) will be updated most likely every day until finished!

P.S sorry if the format of this story annoys you. I am not sure really the best way to format my word document to make it easy to read when it's converted to a "story" on here.


	2. The Race

**Okay second chapter. Thanks to everyone that reviewed :D **

**Disclaimer again: Nope. Still don't own Mai-HiMe. Sunrise does (lucky)**

* * *

Before exiting the tent, Natsuki made sure no one was on the other side first. Wouldn't want to have another embarrassing fall like the last one. Shizuru calmly rose from the couch and followed the raven-haired girl out but waited by the entrance as Natsuki brought her bike from the parking lot and up to the tent.

Natsuki took off her helmet and looked at Shizuru who was smiling sweetly. _I definitely know this girl. Or know OF her at least. _"Are you ready?" Natsuki asked as she straddled her bike. She took in Shizuru's rider's outfit that matched her bike. _Well that's…tight. _

Shizuru nodded and walked to where a purple and pink Kawasaki 250 ninja sat guarded by…fangirls? Natsuki stared at that bike. It was beautiful. And shiny. She looked down at her dark blue Ducati and smiled. This was what, her fifth bike of the same kind? She crashed all the others. Maybe she should invest in something new…though the coloring of the Kawasaki would _have _to go.

Natsuki pulled her hair back yet again and put on her helmet. She rode a little to where Shizuru was lining up and talking with some fans. "Hey are you going to chat all night or are we going to do this?"

_Impatient little puppy. _Shizuru thought as she turned around to eye her competition. She, yet again, put on her smile. "Ara, am I keeping you waiting? I apologize, Natsuki, let's get going then." Shizuru always stalled. Her strategy was to seduce the competition and win. They didn't call her Shizuru of the Bewitching Smile for nothing. There was no way she had had enough time to seduce Natsuki though. She frowned slightly as she rolled her bike after Natsuki who preferred to weave in and out of the people at dangerous speeds.

"Let's make this interesting," Shizuru said as she rolled her bike so that it was side-by-side with Natsuki's.

Natsuki raised a slender brow. "Okay…" _Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_

Shizuru gave Natsuki _the _bewitching smile before placing her pink helmet over her head. Natsuki swallowed hard at the smile, a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

"If you win, what do you want?" Shizuru's helmet visor was still open, so that Natsuki could see those enchanting amber eyes.

Natsuki blinked. What did she…want? What was this? Usually she just raced, won, and moved on. There were no deals to be made. Well, not before Shizuru came along. Natsuki scratched the back of her neck nervously. "Um, what do I want?"

"Yes."

Natsuki lowered her eyes to think, but instead saw the flashy pink and purple motorcycle under Shizuru. That's what she wanted, something to remind her of her winning against Shizuru, but also because it _did _look nice. She could always get it repainted. "The bike," Natsuki said as she pointed. "I want your bike."

Shizuru's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Her bike? She glanced down at it. "It's hardly your color," she murmured.

"What?" Natsuki asked.

"I said sure. If you win, you get my bike. But if _I _win," a mischievous grin crept across Shizuru's face, though Natsuki couldn't see it under the helmet. "If I win, you have to spend a day with me."

"Bwuh?" Natsuki stared, dumbfounded. "Spend a day with you?" _Why the hell would she want that? She doesn't even know me. God she looks familiar._

Shizuru flicked her helmet visor over her eyes and nodded. "Yes, at a location of my choice. The whole day." _You are the one person who has resisted me this long. _It was true. Most of her former challenges had asked for something like a kiss, a date. With Natsuki, Shizuru was _offering _a date, though she knew better than to call it that. If she did Natsuki would most definitely refuse.

Natsuki still had no idea why Shizuru wanted to hang out with her. I mean, they were sort of enemies after all weren't they? Natsuki had treated all her other challengers as enemies, why was Shizuru so…off? Natsuki considered Shizuru's offer. Either way it was a win-win situation. If she won, which she would, she gets a brand new bike. And if she lost? All she has to do is spend a day with the winner. No big deal. I mean it would be like a bitch slap to her ego, but she could always ask for a rematch. _And I won't lose so I have nothing to worry about. _

"Deal," Natsuki said as she extended an arm, her gloved hand waiting for Shizuru's.

Shizuru took it with her own gloved hand and lightly tickled the palm of Natsuki's hand with her middle finger as she shook on it. "Deal." Shizuru smiled at the expression on Natsuki's face then turned and put her kickstand up. She leaned on one foot and turned to look at the road ahead of her.

"Alright," Nao said coming from the sidelines where she had watched the exchange between the two. She hadn't missed the strange handshake either and it pissed her off. "Tonight's race will be between Fujino Shizuru, the reigning race champion from Kyoto," Nao yelled to the growing crowd of onlookers and bikers. About half the crowd cheered. The other booed. This would be the main event of the week for sure. The through-city races were always more popular than the track races.

Natsuki flipped her helmet visor down to hide the utter shock in her eyes after learning that Shizuru was the champion in Kyoto. _Crap, _she thought. She stole a peek at Shizuru who was now staring intently straight ahead, ready to shoot off any second. Natsuki mimicked her and stared straight ahead.

"And representing the Kuga Squad," which basically consisted of Natsuki, Mai, and Nao since she had lost, "the current reigning race champion…KUGA NATSUKI!" Nao winked at Natsuki. The half that booed before now cheered and vice-versa. "Tonight's race will be through the streets of Fuuka. Whoever can return here first from down there," Nao said pointing in the direction Natsuki first entered the Biker Club from, "will be the new or stay as the Race Champion. Any questions?"

"Rules?" Tomoe asked. Shizuru looked behind her at the familiar voice. So _this _is where Tomoe had come after…well, _that. _

Nao smiled and nodded then turned to the crowd again. "Rules? The first rule is no dirty stuff."

"Aw," Shizuru joked. The crowd laughed. Natsuki thanked god her helmet was on, she was probably as red as a tomato.

"The second rule," Nao continued, "is no letting the other win on purpose." Nao eyed Natsuki after that one and some of the crowd 'oooh'ed and 'aaahh'ed. Shizuru stared at Nao a little confused, though her helmet covered her eyes. _Ara, what was that? A threat? An insinuation that Kuga Natsuki would LET me win just to get a date with me? Do I have competition?_

Natsuki herself looked back at Nao with the same confused expression on her face. _Why would I let her win? I want the bike. And why does Nao care anyways?_

"Third rule," Nao walked over to Natsuki and stared straight through her helmet visor. "No falling for the competition."

Natsuki nearly fell off her bike. "W-_what?" _she blurted out. "Like _that _would happen." Natsuki glared at Nao, though Natsuki wasn't aware that Nao was serious, and not doing that to tease or embarrass her.

"Since when was that a rule?" Shizuru questioned calmly.

Nao's gaze lifted off of Natsuki and instead pierced through Shizuru's helmet visor instead. "Since now. Is there a problem with that?"

Shizuru smiled. "None at all." Although she was sure she would make Natsuki break that rule eventually.

"Yeah it's sort of an unnecessary rule," Natsuki grumbled. "I mean…_ew." _

Shizuru's smile dropped instantly. _Ew? _She was not an _ew. _How was Natsuki so resistant? _NO one was this resistant. _That last comment made Shizuru even more determined to make Natsuki hers…even if it's just to win a race. It _was _wasn't it? _Why am I making this a life mission right now? Is it really that much of a big deal if someone isn't enchanted by me? _She watched Natsuki's serious face staring straight ahead. _Natsuki is strikingly beautiful. _Shizuru noted.

While half the crowd glared at Natsuki for the "Ew" comment, one Shizuru fan slipped away into the darkness. Tomoe slipped onto her teal colored bike and smiled to herself. Everything was going well. She had overheard Nao telling Natsuki to stay to the left earlier. If she stayed to the left the sharp turns wouldn't be so bad and she could make her way around them faster. Tomoe, of course, had already set up a little surprise for Natsuki. No one would beat Shizuru. Tomoe saw the worried look on her secret love's face, she was _worried. _Worried about losing to who? Kuga Natsuki? Tomoe wouldn't let that happen.

"Alright, idiots," Nao said standing in between Natsuki and Shizuru's bikes. "As I said, no funny business! Are you ready?"

Shizuru gave a light nod. Natsuki revved her engine. The crowd went wild.

"On your mark," the two contestants eyed only the road, though their minds were elsewhere. "Get set," their grips tightened on their bike handles, "GO!" they sped off into the night, the wind rushed by, drowning out the crazy cheers of the crowd.

Natsuki was in the lead. _Yes. In the lead, always in the lead. _

Shizuru held the handle back more and gained some speed. _I'm right on your tail, little wolf. No matter how far or how fast you run I will catch you. _Maybe she could win this one without seducing Natsuki after all.

They were speeding through the city at night. Weaving in and out of traffic, though there wasn't much of it once they reached the first curve. Natsuki stuck to her left and tucked into the curve. _Perfect, Nao was right. _

Shizuru, however, stayed to the right just behind Natsuki and tilted so far to her left that her shoulder was almost touching the ground. Though Natsuki had stayed close to the curve and was safe because of it, Shizuru had kept the same distance by tilting ridiculously low.

Natsuki saw it. _How the hell…? If I had known she could do that, I would've asked her to teach me instead of for her bike. _

Natsuki wasn't paying attention. Even if she had though, she would've been going too fast to stop in time. There was no way to avoid the tiny metal spikes that had been set up…particularly on the left side of the road.

The front tire popped and sent Natsuki flying over the front of her bike and to the ground with such speed that she rolled until she hit the other side of the street. Her helmet had broken on the back where it hit the sidewalk, thankfully it protected her head otherwise there would be a lot more blood around.

"Natsuki!" Shizuru, who had dodged the spikes easily, skidded to a halt and leapt off her bike. She ran to Natsuki's motionless body and knelt down. "Natsuki?" Shizuru asked, panic slowly creeping its way into her throat.

Natsuki let out a groan.

Shizuru exhaled, thank god she was alive! The chestnut haired girl carefully and slowly pulled the remains of Natsuki's helmet off of her head. She found herself staring. _I knew she was beautiful but up close…_, Shizuru lowered her head closer to Natsuki's. She stared in awe at the smooth skin, long dark hair, and adorably cute sleeping face. Oh wait she wasn't sleeping. _She just got in a motorcycle accident and I'm ogling her? What's wrong with me? _Shizuru placed a hand on Natsuki's forehead then slowly down her cheek to the pulse in her neck. Yup, still alive.

Natsuki's eyes slowly opened. All she saw was a blurry figure above her. _What happened? _"Ow…" Natsuki grumbled as she tried to sit up. Her arms collapsed beneath her and she found her head caught by Shizuru's lap. She glanced up into Shizuru's amber eyes, "Shi-Shizuru?"

"Natsuki, how many fingers am I holding up?" Shizuru held up three fingers.

Natsuki's eyes widened. "When did you get _six fingers?!" _

Shizuru blinked then looked at her three fingers. Three, not six. "Natsuki I need to get you back."

"Why do I taste blood?" Natsuki asked quietly.

Shizuru, for the first time, noticed Natsuki's rider suit was ripped in many places. Particularly parts of the arms, most of the stomach, above her left breast, and part of her leg were visible. She swallowed when she took a closer look at the arms. There was a large gash in the left one and the right one…didn't look right. There were a ton of scratches on the flat stomach as well. _At least her neck is fine. _Shizuru thought as she carefully lifted Natsuki and carried her to the pink and purple Kawasaki. She sat her in the front and got on behind her.

"Here," Shizuru said as she took off her own helmet and placed it slowly onto Natsuki's head. She then wrapped her arm around Natsuki's waist, and then snaked it up to between Natsuki's breasts so that she could also grab onto a shoulder, like a Shizuru-seatbelt. Shizuru turned her bike back on and turned it back around in the direction they had come, they hadn't made it very far.

The ride back was longer than it would've been if Shizuru had not been trying to drive slowly. She wasn't sure just how badly injured Natsuki was and a bumpy ride might make something worse. Shizuru, despite being worried (and she had no idea why she was so worried over someone she just met), quite enjoyed the ride. Natsuki smelled great, not to mention Shizuru's hand just passed above the rip above Natsuki's breast. It was like copping a feel without being a pervert! It was, after all, to keep her from falling off the bike. _My, what soft skin you have, little wolf. _

There were murmurs of confusion when Shizuru pulled back up to Natsuki's dark blue tent. Without another word, Shizuru carried Natsuki into the tent and lay her down on the couch she had previously been relaxing on. Mai and Nao came running in from behind her.

"W-what happened?!" Mai yelled running to Natsuki's side and grazing her fingers over Natsuki's forehead. "_Natsuki?"_ This was Mai's worst nightmare, Natsuki either not returning from a race, or returning badly injured.

Nao took one look at Natsuki and tried not to show any emotion. I mean she _hated _the girl right? Well okay maybe she _had _at one point. Instead of running to Natsuki's side like Mai had just done, Nao turned her emotions on Shizuru. "_You," _she growled. "I said no funny business! What the _hell _is this?!" Nao shoved Shizuru's shoulder.

Shizuru glared at Nao but kept her calm composure, she was worried after Natsuki wasn't she? This Nao…definitely felt something for Natsuki. If Shizuru was wondering before, she _knew _now. "I didn't touch Natsuki," _Well maybe a little. _"Someone set a trap, they must've known Natsuki sticks close to the curves because it was only on that side of the road," Shizuru explained. "Someone call an ambulance, I'll see what I can do." Shizuru made her way to Natsuki's side and began unzipping Natsuki's rider suit.

"H-_hey! _What are you doing?" Mai stuttered, though she really just wanted Shizuru to hurry up.

Shizuru paused and stared at Mai. "If I don't get this off we can't assess the damage that's been done." With a slow nod from Mai, Shizuru pulled off the rider suit.

"Ah, I have to go, I called an ambulance!" Nao said with a hand covering her nose as she ran out of the tent.

Mai and Shizuru admired Natsuki's form for a good ten seconds before a groan from Natsuki snapped them out of it. "R-right, I don't want to get in your way, I'll wait outside." Mai followed after Nao, leaving Shizuru and Natsuki alone.

Shizuru sighed. "Ara, my little wolf, do you know the effect you have on people?" Shizuru whispered. She took a look and ran her hands lightly over darkened spots of Natsuki's body. Mostly just bruises, the real damage was on Natsuki's arms, and possibly the head because Natsuki had barely said anything.

_Shizuru's hands are warm….crap did I get into an accident again? _Natsuki wondered.

There wasn't much Shizuru could do without a medical kit. "Natsuki, would you happen to know where the medical kit is?"

Natsuki slightly moved her head…then slowly opened her eyes again. "You're _beautiful!" _she exclaimed with wide eyes.

Shizuru smiled and moved Natsuki's hair from her emerald eyes. "_Natsuki, _the medical kit?"

"Um, have you tried foot locker?"

Shizuru frowned. She was speaking nonsense now. _Oh wait. There's a locker by the chair. _Shizuru got up but stopped when she felt a hand shoot out and grab hers. She looked down at Natsuki.

"Don't leave me!" Natsuki cried. Natsuki's hand quickly lost its ability to grip onto Shizuru's and it almost dropped to the side of the couch…before Shizuru caught it and gave it a light squeeze.

"I'm only going to get the medical kit, Natsuki." Shizuru whispered this. Seeing Natsuki like this was no longer a little amusing. It was…sad…cute…but also scary. A head injury was now more than likely. She got the medical kit and began cleaning Natsuki's wounds on her stomach. Then she moved onto the large gash on Natsuki's arm. The other arm the doctors would have to handle.

Ambulance sirens sounded and the lights stopped outside of the tent. Shizuru sighed, _took them long enough. _She then kissed the now sleeping Natsuki on the forehead before stepping outside the tent as the men in uniforms rushed in.

Mai, Nao, Tomoe, and Shizuru watched the ambulance disappear. They all felt a sickeningly worried feeling…except for Tomoe who felt a pang of victory, though her face looked just as somber as the next. She placed a hand on Shizuru's shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

Shizuru gave Tomoe a sideways glance. "I'm sure too," Shizuru said. "And once I find out who did this…well let's just say I won't be so nice." Shizuru decided a while ago that Tomoe was a bit obsessed with her. I mean she made it a little obvious, transferring from Kyoto to Fuuka right after Shizuru had. Although Shizuru was partly to blame…you had to be careful with just who you were bewitching.

* * *

Natsuki woke up in the hospital. "Effing _ouch," _she growled as she lifted an arm to her head. She had tried the other arm first…but when it didn't lift she didn't put much thought to it and just tried her other arm. That one had worked. Then it hit her. _My arm…is in a sling. And it hurts. _

"Look who's awake!" a woman in a white coat said as she walked into the room.

"Oh, hey, Youko. Um. My head hurts?"

Youko nodded and looked at her chart. "Yes you suffered a concussion…hence the confused speech. And your arm is sprained but it should hurt a _lot. _Though it's not broken. Besides that, miss Racing Queen, you should be fine. The bruises and cuts were cleaned up well by Miss Fujino."

Natsuki blinked. "Confused speech? Fujino?"

Youko blushed. "Yeah just forget it."

Natsuki blinked again, pure terror taking her over. "Please tell me I didn't say anything ridiculous."

Youko shook her head. "No, no! You only hit on everything that moved. _That _was pretty amusing."

"Ara! Yes it was," said a honey-coated voice from the doorway.

Natsuki turned tomato red. _God, kill me next time. _

* * *

**Yeah so this chapter was kind of long! **

**Next chapter: **

**Natsuki feels like she should thank Shizuru for saving her, so she agrees to spend a day. Tomoe chats with Nao…and they both decide they want sort of the same thing.**

**What does Shizuru have planned for the day? What types of diabolical plots can Tomoe and Nao stir up? Updated every day until finished! (Mostly) **

**Feel free to R&R!**


	3. Not What She Seems

**Chapter 3!**

**Thanks again to everyone that reviewed. I've decided I like this fanfiction thing and after this story will probably write others! By the way, yes I know it's "weird" Nao sort of likes Natsuki but when I was watching the series I always thought that might be why she always is a b!tch to her. Like the second-grader crush technique haha. In my mind I find it impossible to not be in love with Kuga sooo that tends to come across when all the characters start blushing in her presence. I'M WORKING ON IT. I'm trying to make this realistic as possible! Well you know, if everyone was slightly more lesbian than usual haha.**

* * *

"And then a _wheelchair _rolled by and you said—"

"I really don't want to hear it, Nao!" Natsuki said pressing her okay-hand against her ear. Unfortunately for her, covering one ear wasn't enough to keep out Nao's teasing.

"'Hey baby nice wheels!' it was _great. _You should get hit on the head more often, Kuga," Nao finished with a big grin on her face.

Natsuki's eyebrow twitched. She had hit on old women in wheelchairs. What else…or _who _else had she hit on? Her eyes slowly passed over Nao and towards the wall where Shizuru was leaning up against the wall, an amused smile on her face. _Had I said anything to her? _Natsuki wondered. _Wait why am I worried about hitting on her specifically? God I must've been hit harder than I thought. _

Shizuru was relieved to see Natsuki awake. Of course, she had no idea _why _she cared so much, even at all. But she decided not to question it. "Ara, does Natsuki not remember Miss Bess? She enjoyed flirting with you so much!"

Natsuki groaned and fell back onto her pillow. "Not you too, Shizuru," she whined.

_Cute little wolf…, _Shizuru found herself gracefully gliding over towards Natsuki's bed side. Before she knew what she was doing, Shizuru lightly placed a hand over Natsuki's forehead.

Natsuki's body froze. "Shi-Shizuru um," she sat up. She was glad Shizuru had taken care of her…but they had only just met, why was she acting like…Mai would? Like a concerned friend?

Shizuru pulled her hand away. _What…what was I doing? _Shizuru blinked in surprised and quickly let her hand drop to her side. A light blush came to her cheeks as she saw the same happening to Natsuki. Their eyes met. _So cute when she blushes…_

Nao watched this whole thing unfolding with the utmost disgust. Really, Kuga? With Fujino? Nao snapped her fingers. "Hey!"

Their locked eyes broke and they both turned to stare at Nao. "W-what?" Natsuki asked quickly. Her head began spinning as a brand new head ache started coming on.

Nao shook her head. She moved her glare from Natsuki to Shizuru. "Forget it," she spat as she scraped her chair backwards and stalked out of the room.

Natsuki and Shizuru exchanged confused glances. Well _Natsuki _was confused at least.

"What was _that _about?" Natsuki asked.

Shizuru smirked at Natsuki's utter obliviousness. "No idea. How are you feeling?"

Natsuki, who had already forgotten the strange moment between herself and Shizuru, put her okay hand up to her forehead and sighed. "I just have a head ache."

Shizuru nodded and sat down on the hospital bed next to Natsuki. "You know you look kind of cute all weak and pathetic," Shizuru cooed. A smile spread on her face as she watched Natsuki's expression change.

"H-_hey!" _Natsuki was definitely anything but cute! Natsuki was about to rattle off all the reasons why she was an uber bad ass and not pathetic when she noticed the smile on Shizuru's face. It was…definitely different than the one she had seen so much last night. That one had been pretty…yet fake. This one was new…gorgeous…_real. _

Shizuru stopped smiling when she saw Natsuki's confused look. "What's wrong?"

Natsuki shook her head. "Oh, uh, nothing…" Natsuki slightly tilted her head to better examine Shizuru. _God she is pretty._ "Listen," Natsuki said leaning up against the bed's headboard. "I really just want to thank you…for the other day. I don't think anyone else would've stopped to help me. The title I have is sort of a big deal around here and—"  
Shizuru placed her fingers up to Natsuki's lips and silenced her. Natsuki's cheeks burned crimson red. "It's fine, _Natsuki," _The way she said the younger girl's name was…ridiculously seductive…or was Natsuki imagining things? "I wouldn't have left you there…you're too cute." Shizuru felt horrible. She was trying _so hard _to seduce Natsuki. This is how she went about it anyways. But she'd never felt so…pathetic for doing it.

And yet…the way she seduced people wasn't _real. _The things she really _wanted _to say to Natsuki were in no way fake. But she couldn't say them, because she actually felt them. That's not how things worked. _Why am I still pushing this? Natsuki is obviously resistant to the seduction…maybe if I was just myself…that…touch…that moment before…that had been real hadn't it? _Crap. Shizuru couldn't possibly be really…falling for…_no. No. I don't…why am I still doing this?_

Natsuki's cheeks burned. _Again with this cute stuff? _She was most definitely not cute! Shizuru was acting weird. _The first time I felt like you were real, Shizuru, was two minutes ago when you were beside me. _And now she's plastered on that odd, yet bewitching smile again. _Why does she do that? _

"Ara, _Natsuki_, you're turning red…" Shizuru let her fingers slowly slip down Natsuki's lips, over her chin, and down her neck…before pulling her hand back and admiring Natsuki's completely shocked expression.

"I-I, uh…" Natsuki tried to shift a little ways back on her bed. Shizuru was getting too close for comfort. Not like she hadn't liked it…but the way Shizuru tended to switch between a tease and a concerned friend confused her to no end.

_Why does she look at me like that? _Shizuru wondered.

_Why do I feel like…she's hiding? _Natsuki questioned.

They stared at each other a long time, both searching for answers in the other's eyes.

"Um…," Mai said looking at the two of them. _Nao wasn't kidding. _

Natsuki looked up but Shizuru kept staring intently at Natsuki…_this girl…_

"HINATSUKIGLADTOSEEYOU'REAWAKEOKAYBYE!" Mai ran out the way she had come.

Natsuki held a hand out. "Wait a second, _Mai!" _Natsuki frowned. "Damn it. What was the hurry anyways?" She remembered Shizuru was in the room and turned to face her, though she was done with trying to figure her out. For now anyways. If Shizuru was going to come out of hiding she'd do it on her own. "Anyways, as I was saying before…thanks. When I get better, I'd like a rematch….and…" Natsuki frowned and looked away, "since I sort of owe you, I'll agree to give you what you wanted if you had won…"

Shizuru blinked back her surprise and smiled instead. She was going to ask about that but apparently she didn't need to. What she really wanted to do was hug Natsuki, maybe run some ideas by her concerning what they'd be doing on the weeknd. She inched closer to the now 'she's on the move again' alert Natsuki and lightly pinched her chin and tilted it upwards. "That'd be great," Shizuru whispered, her lips inches from Natsuki's.

Natsuki swallowed hard as her eyes glazed over and she took in Shizuru's scent. She couldn't tell if this was Shizuru being real or not. Part of her said, _this girl is up to something, _and the other part said, _this girl is either overly affectionate or just really likes teasing me. "_Shi-Shizuru," Natsuki was brought back to her senses and moved backwards, nearly falling off the other side of the bed. "I'm going to go see if I can leave…" Natsuki slipped out of the bed carefully. She did a couple of mini-squats to see if her legs were okay to carry her. They were fine, if a bit wobbly.

"_Ara, N-Natsuki um…your hospital dress…" _Shizuru managed to say as she tried to hold back a giggle.

Natsuki blinked and tried to look at her back side. _Oh Gods why? _There was no back to this dress and her whole back showed. Luckily she was wearing the black Victoria's secret panties she had been wearing last night…which is actually a little gross. Natsuki instantly jumped 180 degrees and backed up against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut as her face turned a deep shade of red. _Don't scream don't scream. _

Shizuru couldn't hold it in anymore and giggled like crazy. "Ara, what a cute bum you have, Natsuki," the older girl exclaimed with her hand clutching her stomach as she laughed.

The whole hospital paused as they heard a loud scream coming from one of the top floors.

* * *

Meanwhile, Nao had run right into Tomoe as she proceeded to exit the building.

"Watch where you're walking you teal-haired freak," Nao growled as she shoved by.

Tomoe glared at Nao's back and was about to shout back something when something hit her. They could work together, her and Nao. They both _almost _wanted the same thing didn't they? "Hey, Juliet!"

Nao, who was halfway to her blood red motorcycle, went rigid. _No one was allowed to call her that._ She spun on her heel. "Who the _hell _told you? Was it Natsuki? That bi—"

Tomoe grinned. "No, your _love _didn't tell me anything. I know all about you."

Nao's bad ass façade dropped like it was hot. "L-love? _What? _What are you smoking?"

Tomoe sighed and pretended to look over her nails. "Don't play stupid…or are you not really playing? I'm not an idiot. The way you look at Natsuki is the same way I look at Shizuru."

Nao scoffed, "Yeah right. I'm not _obsessive."_

"So you admit you want her?" Tomoe looked up from her nails. _Gotcha, Nao._

Nao, yet again, dropped the smug look and blinked. _Crap how did I fall for that? _"Is there a point to your stupid babbling or can I go home now?"

Tomoe strode over to Nao so she was eye-level with her. "You want Natsuki, I want Shizuru. And I'm starting to think my Shizuru wants your Natsuki. We have to work together, don't you get it, Nao? Are you really that thick-headed?"

Nao gave her an uneasy look, though when she said 'your Natsuki' her stomach seemed to do flip-flops. _God when did I become so pathetic. She may be a freakin' pain in my backside but she's right. The looks they were giving each other in there were more than PG-13. _"Okay," Nao said holding out her hand. "We'll work together. But if you insult me one more time I won't hesitate to push you into the middle of a busy street."

Tomoe smiled and shook Nao's hand. "Good. I'll call you tonight. I have a ton of information I can share with you."

Nao shook her hand once and dropped it. "Whatever." Nao had a feeling Tomoe was maybe responsible for the accident…it would make sense. The girl was obviously crazy. Well they'd help each other out. Nao didn't care so much if Natsuki was _hers _as long as she wasn't someone else's.

* * *

Natsuki zipped up the jacket Mai had brought for her. Well, she _attempted _to zip up the jacket. It didn't work out so well. Her arm was in a sling and the other one still hurt.

"Let me get that," Shizuru said zipping it up for her.

"Thanks," Natsuki muttered, her cheeks turning slightly pink. Natsuki glared at her injured arm, as if it were its fault for spraining. _Oh that reminds me, _"Hey did they ever find out who planted that trap?"

Shizuru's face darkened. "Unfortunately, no." Although she may have an idea…

Natsuki shrugged, which hurt. She winced. "I've got to stop doing that. Hey do you think I could get a ride home?" Natsuki worried about the condition of her bike. _That would be what, the sixth totaled bike? _

Shizuru smiled. "I thought you'd never ask. Of course, my Natsuki. I'll give you a ride." Shizuru paused. Did she actually just claim Natsuki out loud. She turned to look at the clueless Natsuki. Her expression meant that she _had _said that out loud. _Great._

"Um, did you just say…"

"I said, '_why, Natsuki, _of course I'd give you a ride.'" Shizuru quickly said. Before Natsuki could say anything she walked through the hospital main entrance doors and into the parking lot.

Natsuki blinked. _Did she…? No, of course not. _She followed the older girl out.

The parking lot was full. Mostly of cars. But that pink and purple Kawasaki ninja stuck out like a red rose among many yellow ones. Old boring yellow ones. Shizuru, who had already changed into her rider suit before leaving, sat on her bike.

Natsuki eyed the bike. It was still as shiny as it was yesterday. She vaguely remembered the ride back after the accident…Shizuru's arms had…definitely been in areas they shouldn't have been. Though she let that slide seeing as how it's because of Shizuru she doesn't have any infected wounds.

"Here," Shizuru said placing her own helmet on Natsuki once she got close enough. Natsuki murmured a thanks and waited, not really sure how she was going to hold onto Shizuru with an injured arm. Shizuru smiled and moved back, giving Natsuki room in the front. She patted the seat. "Coming?"

Natsuki stared, oh, she'd be in the front? Well that sort of makes sense…but how would Shizuru see where she was going? Natsuki took a seat and felt a little awkward. There was nowhere to put her okay-hand so how would she prevent herself from falling forward?

Shizuru snaked her arm around Natsuki's waist as if on cue. "Like this," she murmured in the younger girl's ear. Natsuki felt shivers go up her spine.

"T-this is how you did it last night right?"

Shizuru nodded against Natsuki's back so she could feel it.

Natsuki exhaled slowly, this was going to be a lot weirder than she thought. "I, uh, gave you directions right?"

Again the soft nod against Natsuki's neck came. Natsuki tried to remember how to breathe. _Oh right in and out, got it. _

Shizuru herself was in complete awe of her own behavior. _What am I doing? Poor little wolf must be ridiculously confused. _"Alright let's go," Shizuru said, maybe a little too loudly.

Natsuki gave a weak nod. The head ache was coming back.

* * *

Shizuru pulled up to an apartment building. She felt like she was driving drunk. The smell of Natsuki's hair was practically intoxicating.

"Shiz-Shizuru?"

"Yes?" came a dreamy voice…straight from la-la land.

"You can let go now," Natsuki said lightly tapping Shizuru's 'safety-belt' arm around her waist.

Shizuru instantly woke up. "Ara, I'm sorry, Natsuki."

Natsuki laughed a little nervously and got off the bike. She put her head forward and Shizuru pulled off the helmet for her then tucked it under her arm.

"Okay…," Natsuki said feeling a little awkward. She wasn't sure whether she should offer the older girl something to drink or just end the awkward moment and walk away.

Meanwhile, Shizuru's thoughts were nowhere near as simple. She was in internal agony. The more she spent time with her…her _prey, _the more she felt like what she was doing was _wrong wrong wrong. _Would she even be able to give Natsuki the rematch she wanted so badly? What had Shizuru challenged her in the first place for? To win the title. To prove she was _the best. _Now she wasn't so sure if all of that mattered anymore. She had wanted to seduce Natsuki so badly…and now…it looks like the tables have turned without Natsuki even trying. Shizuru felt sick.

Natsuki saw the pained expression on her friend's face and rested her okay-hand on Shizuru's shoulder. "Hey are you okay?"

Shizuru snapped out of it, and again plastered that smile on her face. "Ara, did I make Natsuki worry?"

"N-no I was just—listen do you want to come in for," she eyed the amber-eyed beauty, definitely a tea drinker, "tea or something?"

Shizuru beamed and placed her helmet on her bike handles. "I would love to!"

Natsuki nodded and both girls walked towards the building. One praying she actually _had _tea.

* * *

Natsuki pulled her keys from her pocket and opened the door. She flicked the light switch on and paused. "N-Nao?"

There was Nao, sitting ever so calmly in Natsuki's arm chair. She looked amused at Natsuki's expression. "Kuga," she greeted with a nod. Nao noticed Shizuru behind Natsuki and scowled. "Fujino."

Shizuru instantly sensed trouble. She placed a hand on Natsuki's shoulder and took a step inside the apartment. "Hello, Nao."

Natsuki stared at her frenemy with a quizzical expression. Then she noticed Shizuru's almost protective stance. _What's going on? _

"Blah blah, listen, Fujino, you think you can give me and my friend here some privacy?" Nao said looking bored.

Shizuru tensed. She didn't want to leave Natsuki…an _injured _Natsuki with Nao. Why she was being so protective she had no idea. The girls were friends after all. Just what kind of friends sat in the dark waiting for their friends to come home?

That was the same thing Natsuki was wondering, though she was ready to take control of the apartment again. Last time Natsuki checked, she was still the Ice Queen. The rebel, the kick ass biker chick Racing Champion. Her arms were a little out of whack but that didn't change the fact that _she _was in charge. "Nao what's the big idea?" Natsuki said walking past Shizuru's protective stance and walking up to Nao. "This is a little horror-movie-esque if you ask me."

Shizuru slowly closed the door behind her and watched with admiration as Natsuki took control of the situation. She forgot Natsuki wasn't some weak little girl. She was injured, but that meant nothing. She was a _wolf _after all.

Nao yawned then stood up so that her face was inches from Natsuki's. Nao was a little taller than Natsuki, and looked slightly down into her eyes. "We need to talk, Kuga."

Natsuki, who was torn between taking a step back (Nao was _way _too close for comfort) and standing her ground, pointed to her phone hanging on the wall. "It's called a phone. No need for breaking and entering."

Nao gave her an impish grin, and as if to knock her over, took another step, which closed the very tiny gap between them even more. Before Natsuki could take a step back Nao grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer. _Her arms are weak, she can't fight back. _Nao pulled her so close that her head rested against Natsuki's. She grinned at Shizuru across the room. It was like a strange forced hug.

"N-Nao what are you…?" Natsuki's whole body went rigid against Nao's. She tried to lightly shove Nao back with her okay-hand but Nao already had a good grip.

"Enough," Shizuru said coming forward.

Nao released Natsuki so fast, she fell backwards. Shizuru reached out and caught her from under the arms. She helped her up then shoved Natsuki behind her.

Nao and Shizuru were giving each other death glares.

Natsuki had no idea what was going on.

And that's when Mai burst through the front door, "WELCOME BAC—uh…? Bad time, guys?"

Shizuru and Nao turned around so fast that they were both giving Mai death glares. Natsuki, on the other hand, was overjoyed to have someone to be confused with. She practically leapt onto the poor girl. "Mai, I am _so _glad to see you," Natsuki said as she ran over and placed her one okay-arm around Mai's neck and gave her a hug. A hug Mai was absolutely shocked to receive. Natsuki was showing affection? What the _hell _did Nao and Shizuru do to the poor thing?

Nao sighed, her smugness returned and she glided past Shizuru. Not without giving her a shoulder bump of course. She stopped in front of Natsuki. The last of whatever effect Tomoe's words had on her wore off. "I'm serious, Natsuki, we need to talk. A _very _reliable source says Shizuru Fujino is _not_ what she seems." With that, Nao strode out of the apartment.

Natsuki was caught off-guard with that one. _Did she just call me Natsuki? _Then again, Nao was obviously full of surprises tonight. The silence drew out for a while.

"So…do I want to know what happened?" Mai asked as she brought her head to rest on top of Natsuki's.

Natsuki shook her head. "_I_ don't even know what just happened." Though Nao's last words replayed in her head. Shizuru is not what she seems. _Well I know that…but why do I feel like this is a bigger deal than I thought? _Natsuki slowly left the comforting embrace of Mai and looked towards Shizuru. The girl looked…absolutely confused. And in her own world, as usual.

"Shi-Shizuru? Are you okay?" Natsuki asked.

Shizuru glanced up at those emerald eyes. They were haunting. She loved them. _Oh Shizuru, you have fallen so far off track. _"I'm fine, Natsuki," Shizuru responded quietly. Why wasn't Natsuki questioning her about what Nao said? Shizuru wondered herself what Nao meant exactly, but if a certain person was involved it probably wasn't good news. Tomorrow was Monday. That gave Nao 5 days before Saturday to tell Natsuki whatever it is…which mean there was a good chance that by the weekend, Natsuki wouldn't want to spend a day with her anymore. Shizuru's heart sank. She hadn't even noticed the dark-haired girl had walked up to her and was now waving a hand wildly in front of her face.

"_Shizuruuu?" _

Mai watched the expression on Shizuru's face. Whatever Nao was going to tell Natsuki…it worried Shizuru. _A lot. _"Okay well I just wanted to say welcome back home, Natsuki. I'll see you tomorrow at school right?"

Natsuki, without taking her eyes off the la-la land Shizuru, slowly nodded her head. Then….

"Oh wait, crap. I don't have a bike," Natsuki said turning around with a sigh. "If I have to walk, I will punch someone." _Definitely…Takeda. _A smile spread across her face as she imagined it.

"I'll give you a ride," Shizuru said as she walked past Natsuki and towards the door.

Natsuki felt another head ache coming on. Why won't these damn things go away? "Ah, wait, Shizuru!"

Shizuru turned as she was halfway out the door. She had to get out of there. She needed to think. "Yes, Natsuki?"

Natsuki paused. _Not what she…seems…_she shook her head. "Never mind. Thanks."

Shizuru nodded and left without another word.

Natsuki watched her leave. The longer Shizuru had left, the worse Natsuki's head ache felt. "Gah, stupid meds," Natsuki muttered as she hugged Mai good bye and crawled into bed.

That night she dreamt of Nao and that bewitching smile of Shizuru's.

_Fujino's not what she seems…. _

* * *

**Woohoo third chapter, done! I had a ton of fun writing this chapter. Though I think my writing abilities may have gotten crappier during it haha. Oh well. I know exactly where this story is going. Thanks to everyone that reviewed! Sorry for any typos!**

**Next chapter preview: Nao finds Natsuki and lets her know exactly what she found out about the mysterious Shizuru. How will Natsuki react? What will Shizuru do? Will it affect their possible weekend together? Stay tuned!**


	4. Be Real!

**Chapter 4!**

**Hi! This is the author (obviously). Um, I don't think I have anything to say before this chapter except thanks for the reviews (they really make me want to keep writing!) Oh yeah, and to the reviewer who commented on Nao being taller than Natsuki: I was always under the impression that Nao was tall for her age and Natsuki short, so I made them BASICALLY the same height, with Nao just a little taller. You really wouldn't be able to tell. So please don't imagine Nao being some kind of giant compared to Natsuki lol. Also, this update took so long because I rewrote it like 3 times. I'm still not happy with the beginning. For those who only like the Shiznat parts…PLEASE read through the whole thing and don't skip the non-Shizuru parts. Shizuru will be back at the end of the chapter and you will miss important stuff if you just skip to those parts. The beginning is a little dull, but I promise it gets better lol. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Brzing Brzing Brzing!_

"Oh for the love of—" Natsuki muttered as she punched the poor alarm clock into a wall.

She paused as she realized…her arm had fallen out of its sling in the middle of her beauty sleep and she had just used her now free arm to _punch _something. A scream, much like the one heard in the hospital, erupted through the apartment building.

A biker-suited and idling Shizuru heard it, just barely, and leapt off her bike running towards the apartment building. Shizuru thudded on the door. "Natsuki? Natsuki are you alright?"

Natsuki, who was rocking back and forth on her heels, half whimpering, half cursing, looked up from her mess and looked towards her bedroom door. Did she hear Shizuru? She checked her cell phone. _Oh, I'm definitely going to be late. _She scrambled up from her messy bed sheets and jumped into the bathroom. _Brush brush brush where's my damn brush? _"Ah-_hah," _Natsuki gave a quick cheer as she began brushing the knots out of her hair quickly.

_Thud, thud. _"Natsuki?"

Natsuki blinked and paused her brushing. She glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked, well, fine. Like she usually did. _Wait why do I even care? _She shook off the strange feeling she had and quickly brushed her teeth. No one liked morning breath.

Shizuru sighed and rested her head against Natsuki's apartment door. What in the world was this girl doing? Shizuru realized the way she felt about Natsuki was beginning to be a problem. It was beginning to tire Shizuru, being constantly worried like this. Over who? Natsuki Kuga? Ice Queen. She could handle herself couldn't she? But that wasn't really what was bothering Shizuru was it? The fact that Natsuki was making it painfully obvious that she, Natsuki,…had no clue. About anything, _ever. _Natsuki was the most oblivious girl Shizuru had ever met.

"Shizur—?" the door opened unexpectedly and Shizuru fell forward…onto Natsuki. Again.

Natsuki was careful not to use her injured arm for support as, yet again, Shizuru toppled onto her.

"Ara, we've got to stop meeting like this," Shizuru teased, her face inches from Natsuki's.

Natsuki found herself in no rush to escape as she was the first time this little incident occurred. Instead, she found herself staring into Shizuru's enchanting amber eyes. _Beautiful. _She was ridiculously distracted, completely transfixed on the woman in front of her. _She really looks great in a rider suit. No question._

Shizuru blinked. She knew that look, but she had never seen it on Natsuki before. "_Natsuki?" _

Natsuki snapped out of her trance and laughed nervously. "Ah, sorry?"

Shizuru gave Natsuki a warm smile, stood up, and held out a hand. "Ara, you must've been entranced by my beauty then?" Shizuru wasn't trying to seduce Natsuki at all. After all that thinking last night (and she had tons of time to think seeing as she couldn't sleep) she had decided to just be herself. Be real. And that definitely involved teasing Natsuki as much as possible. The girl was so cute when she got flustered.

Natsuki gave another quick laugh, that was a joke right? Because she wasn't necessarily sure that wasn't the case. "Thanks," Natsuki said taking Shizuru's hand and allowing herself to be helped up. _Something is definitely going on with me. Must be the meds. _

The ride to school was pretty simple. Natsuki insisted that her one arm was strong enough to hold onto Shizuru so she had sat behind her. Of course, the biker sported her new rider suit and helmet, which were the same as her old ones.

Natsuki stepped off the bike, pulled offer her helmet and looked around for somewhere to change into her school uniform. This was a pretty quiet area it seemed. Not necessarily school grounds but close.

"Natsuki?"

Natsuki turned around, "Hm?"She flicked back her hair.

"I'm going now," Shizuru said revving her engine. She gave a quick wave and sped off before Natsuki could say anything else. _I'm sure I'll see you sometime today, my Natsuki. _Though Shizuru prayed Nao wouldn't be able to find the green-eyed beauty.

Natsuki sighed. Where was she racing off to anyways? Hey wait a second, Shizuru couldn't be more than a year older than Natsuki…just _where _did she go to school anyways?

The raven-haired girl shrugged it off, threw her school bag to the ground, and began unzipping her rider suit. Luckily for her, Shizuru had dropped her off in a secluded forest area right next to the school, much like the place Natsuki leaves her bike before going to class. _Well when I had a bike. _She felt a pang of sorrow. She really needed to get another bike.

The zipper was halfway down when Natsuki heard a rustle of leaves behind her. She spun around, eyes narrowed, searching the bush for a peeping tom or a teacher. Or a combination of the two, it's happened before so she wouldn't have been that surprised. It didn't take her long to spot a shadow behind one of the trees. "HEY! You there! Get out here and show yourself!"

Slowly but surely, the boy named Takeda made his way from behind the tree. He zoomed in on Natsuki's cleavage and turned into somewhat of a zombie. _Pervert!_

"H-_hey!" _Natsuki yelled covering her chest.

"I-I wasn't looking!" Takeda screamed and looked away. "Besides," Takeda said slowly turning his head around to look at her once more, "It's not my fault you decide to strip in the middle of my meditation forest!" He gave a curt nod, obviously please with his work. _That'll show her who's the boss around here._

"You're _dead," _Natsuki growled. She re-zipped up her rider suit and ran after the poor boy, grabbing a stick along the way with her okay-arm and trying to whack him with it. His screams could be heard for miles.

* * *

The day wasn't even close to over and Natsuki was already exhausted. That beating took a lot out of her. She wondered how long it would take people to find Takeda's beaten and bruised body, she had left it right where school grounds met forest. He should consider himself lucky she didn't throw his body in a river. In fact she would've, had she not been in such a good mood lately.

"Kuga," called a familiar voice. Nao sat down next to Natsuki on the outdoor wooden table. She was in her school uniform, and she crossed her legs seductively. Her dark green eyes ran over Natsuki's slouched frame quickly before giving her frenemy a semi-smile. _Just look at me._

"Nao," Natsuki greeted back with a nod. She didn't look up. The math homework she had gotten was picking her brain apart. She furiously began erasing. The pencil broke. "You've _got _to be kidding me!"

Nao let out a loud laugh that would make any Disney villain proud. "God, Kuga, can't even erase without causing a problem."

Natsuki glared at Nao then raised a slender brow as the events of last night seeped back into her drugged brain. "H-hold on a second…weren't you going to tell me someth—"

Nao's sudden hand on Natsuki's cheek shut her up real fast. "_Yes, _I was. For a second there I thought you had forgotten all about last night." A boy nearby heard this last part, and with a 'gomen' to his friends, ran to the bathroom clutching his nose.

Natsuki's eyes widened as the boy ran off. Natsuki felt her cheeks heat up; well _this _was a little embarrassing. Why was Nao always so…_Nao?_ She was like a walking bundle of sex! Natsuki raised her own hand and gently placed it on top of Nao's. She then began to try and _peel _off the other girl's hand. "Nao you've been acting kind of strange. Well, you've always been strange," Natsuki returned Nao's earlier impish grin, "But more than usual lately." Natsuki said plopping Nao's hand down onto the small bit of wooden bench separating the two. _I wonder if she…? Nah…I mean all the touching is a little…but she's just screwing around with me. It's not like…that or anything. This is Nao after all._

Nao pouted. After seeing Natsuki didn't care at all (_Damn, I guess that only works with Shizuru) _she reached into her bag and pulled out a small binder. "Take a look at this," the fiery red-head said, pushing the binder towards Natsuki.

Natsuki tore up her math homework into little pieces and blew it away. She grumbled something under her breath as she placed the suspicious looking binder where her impossible homework had just been. Natsuki exhaled. Whatever this binder contained might change her views on Shizuru forever. _My views on…_Natsuki pondered what exactly her "views" on the Kyoto beauty were. Well so far she's been a caring friend…even though they've only known each other for a short while. She's flirtatious, but that probably didn't mean anything…did it?

"Hey, what are you blushing about? Open the damn thing!" Nao yelled as she smacked Natsuki on the forehead.

"I wasn't blushing! Give me a minute, geez." Natsuki glared at her best frenemy then slowly turned the binder open.

Headline after headline after headline. Article clippings, pictures, photos…all of Shizuru. Natsuki's jaw dropped, "W-what the—"

"Let me help you with that," Nao cooed devilishly as she closed Natsuki's mouth with her hand.

Natsuki's eyes scanned everything on the binder. Whoever put this together had _way _too much time on their hands…and _definitely _loved Shizuru. Too much. There were too many photos. Some were ridiculously voyeuristic….

"You're blushing again. You're looking at the shower one aren't you? God, Kuga, didn't know you were a perv. Just turn the page, that's where the good stuff is." _Damn it why didn't I remove that picture? That's not going to help the cause. _

Yet again, Natsuki shot Nao a death glare. But she couldn't keep the glare up for long, as her eyes were drawn back to the binder in confusion. Particularly the shower photo. "Okay I don't get it, Nao. Your _reliable source _sneaks cameras into Shizuru's bathroom? And…" she tilted her head sideways, "her closet? What does this have to do with me? Well besides now I know my friend had a stalker. Once my arm gets better…"

"Will you stop plotting murder and turn the damn page, Kuga? God you're slower today than usual," Nao growled at the ice queen, who was so clearly stalling from turning the page.

Natsuki mumbled some insults under her breath, much to Nao's disdain, and finally turned the page.

"_The hell—?!" _Natsuki yelled. She dropped the binder and looked away, but it would do her no good. Those pictures…so many. They circled around her brain, killing whatever beautiful image Natsuki had stored in her brain of Shizuru Fujino and replacing them. The pictures. Each one had Shizuru. Each one had Shizuru and another woman. Each one had Shizuru kissing another woman. And next to the pictures? An article clipping proclaiming Shizuru champion over the other girl in the picture.

"You mean…_ara? Ara ara ara…" _Nao teased as she picked up the binder carefully and placed it back on the table. She had promised Tomoe she wouldn't let anything happen to it. _Teal-haired freak. _It had worked like a charm though. And the best part was? She didn't even have to _lie _to get what she wanted this time. The evidence was all there, in that binder. Shizuru Fujino used and abused other racers just to win against them. Nao noticed the completely broken look on Natsuki's face. _She definitely liked that girl. Pity. She's probably still too dense to realize it though. Thank god for THAT._

"S-Shut up, Nao," Natsuki murmured. She ran her hands through her long hair. _Make the images go away. It can't be true, there's no way she'd do that to me…we're friends aren't we? She could've won…she could've left me but she didn't! _"She could've left me there…but she came back," Natsuki said more to herself as her panicked brain rationalized their friendship, however brief it had been.

"Well she could've but that would've made her look bad. Take a look again, Natsuki, Shizuru is like a damn _goddess _over in Kyoto. No one realized she had seduced her competition right before racing them. The only one who could put it all together was..." Oops almost gave _that _away. "A fan, who came here to tell me to warn you that Shizuru is trying to pull the same on you." _Okay that was a lie. But whatever, it was working wasn't it? My poor Kuga looks crushed._

Natsuki groaned, "Ugh, my head." _So the flirting…the teasing…it was because she was trying to seduce me…not because she was just being friendly, or liked to tease me, or actually…_Natsuki halted her thoughts right there. Or actually….what? What had she been about to think?

_Actually…actually liked m—_

"You're head's going to hurt a lot worse when we're done dealing out your punishments you damned delinquent!" Tate's thunderous voice snapped Natsuki out of her thoughts.

"Get lost, Tate. Can't you see my friend and I are in the middle of something?" Nao said uncrossing her legs and leaning forward in Tate's direction. This was the usual protocol of course. Whenever someone came after Natsuki yelling 'delinquent' Nao just _knew _the queen had gotten herself into trouble again. Natsuki had paid her back a couple times too by threatening to saw off guys' heads if they got near Nao. Of course, those were the few times Nao came home too drunk to realize she was about to get taken advantage of by seedy men she met at the Biker Bar. _That must've been when I started falling for her…_

Tate got a peak down her shirt…which held him off for a while.

Natsuki jumped up, and with a quick 'thanks' glance to Nao, Natsuki bolted away.

"H-Hey!" Tate yelled as he took one last glance down Nao's shirt and began galloping after her.

"Run, pup," Nao whispered as she gathered the binder and calmly walked in the direction of its twisted owner.

* * *

Natsuki was slower than usual. It usually took her, oh, 30 seconds to outrun one of the teacher's pets. But with her arm in a sling and her legs still scratched and bruised, it didn't help her to speed away. Not to mention the tears streaming down her face. _Wait, what the hell? Tears? _She came to an abrupt stop in the middle of her getaway and placed a hand to her face to see if those were really tears. _As I said before: what the hel—_

"Kuga!" Tate tripped and toppled onto the back of the abruptly stopped Natsuki. _Oh. My. God. I actually caught Natsuki! And I'm on top of her…niiiice. _

Natsuki felt a hot new escape of tears as she fell onto her already painful arm. At this rate it was going to take forever to heal. _Great, more tears. _Natsuki wasn't sure whether the cause the water droplet annoyances were due to emotional pain or the physical pain. Probably both. _Someone get this idiot off of me. _

Tate sat up, but kept his hand on her back to hold her down. "Kuga, you have the right to remain—"

"What are you doing, idiot? You're not a cop, you're a teacher's lackey, get _off _of me before you lose that hand," Natsuki growled, though it wasn't nearly as intimidating when it was through tears.

Tate noticed the tears and blinked in surprise. The Ice Queen had emotions? Since when? He quickly backed off, however, and waited for her to get up before he grabbed her okay-arm and pulled her back towards the school. "I can't believe I caught you, Kuga," Tate said proudly. He even punched his chest like a gorilla. _I'm the man. _

Natsuki attempted to shrug, though her arm was throbbing. "I let you catch me. Besides, that doesn't change the fact that you're a teacher's—"

"Shut up, already." Tate said as he practically dragged her across the school yard. _Technically I'm Reito's lackey._

Natsuki kicked Tate in the ass and laughed as he fell to the ground. She didn't bother trying to runaway since she knew she was now in ten times more pain than before when she was trying to outrun him the first time. As Natsuki waited for the idiot to get up, she scanned the school yard for any sign of Nao. No sign of the spunky red-headed savior. _Crap._ There were, however, a bunch of boys and girls whispering about the fact that she had actually been caught…and how sexy she looked with tear streaked cheeks. _I didn't really just hear tear-streaked cheeks did I? What's wrong with these people? I look like crap right now!_

"Where are we going anyways? School dungeons?" Natsuki asked sarcastically as Tate pulled her up her second flight of stairs. "Are we going to do something…_naughty_?" The last part Natsuki only added in honor of Nao. She didn't expect Tate to nearly fall down the stairs. Thank god for hand railings? "Are you serious? I was _kidding. _God you men are ridiculous." She wasn't _Nao. _Flirting wasn't her way of getting out of trouble. Although, to be honest, it was pretty hilarious seeing Tate cover his nose with his free hand.

"W-we're going to the Student Council room," Tate responded as he pushed back double-doors. "It's the president's job to deal with VIOLENT delinquents like you." _Though it's more likely Haruka will deal with you._

_So they found Takeda then, _Natsuki smirked…which felt weird as her cheeks were still a little wet. She came to another abrupt stop as what Tate just said processed in her mind.

Tate, who had felt her pulling back, stopped and turned around. "What _now?" _

"We have a student council?" Natsuki asked. "Since when?"

"Well if you came to school more you'd know that," Tate replied as he finally managed to get her to move again. "Or allowed me to catch you more," he mumbled.

Natsuki pondered this and, right before they reached the doors to the Student Council room she said, "So whose lackey are you then?"

"Enough," Tate yelled shoving her into the Student Council room.

Natsuki was thrown into a room full of people she only barely recognized. She stood there like a deer in headlights, Tate behind her smiling proudly. _Oh crap was there a meeting going on? Maybe I should've brought her around later. Wait what am I saying? Any longer and I would've been murdered for sure. _

"_Ara, _what a surprise," cooed a soft, yet clearly amused voice.

Natsuki blinked and slowly looked over those in the room again. She _did_ recognize one particularly important-looking member of the Student Council. So this is why the name had seemed so familiar. She'd probably heard it around school. "Um…"

The president's lips curved into a small smile. Natsuki _was adorable _when she was confused. Well she was always adorable, but even more so when she was thrown into a room full of people she didn't know. Wait, _thrown _into? Shizuru set her eyes on Tate, but not before noticing the disappearing evidence of tears on the girl's cheeks. _Tears? _The way Natsuki was clutching her arm made Shizuru want to end Tate's life.

Shizuru had never met or seen Natsuki before that day at the race, which wasn't surprising since Natsuki tended to ditch school assemblies in which the loved council president would be giving speeches. However, this didn't prevent Shizuru from hearing the deeds Natsuki had committed. It was her job, after all, to hand out the punishments to the students (though she usually just let Haruka handle them). Once she heard back from her racing manager, Reito, she was surprised to find that the same trouble-causing girl was the current racing champion in Fuuka. This wasn't her reason for challenging her of course; she could've cared less what the girl did at school as long as she won the title. Though, that thinking had been long gone once Shizuru got to know the girl.

"You!" Haruka yelled jumping from her seat and pointing at Natsuki. "Do you have _any _idea the kind of trouble you're in? Violently attacking a student, not to mention all the other atrocities you've committed at Fuuka. I can't believe you haven't been expelled yet!" Haruka, whom Natsuki had seen around school once or twice, looked like she was about to pop a blood vessel.

Natsuki laughed. "Don't get a heart-attack, Goldie-locks, geez. The guy is a pervert. He needed to be taught a lesson," Natsuki explained calmly, doing her best to avoid eye contact with Shizuru. Those pictures had resurfaced and she tried to distract herself by getting herself into even more trouble.

Shizuru raised a slender brow. Was Natsuki not looking at her on purpose? Did those tears have anything to do with it? Did Nao…_no way. _Shizuru had thought about it and…well, there was nothing that Nao could get her on. Her record was clean. She had been a mini-celebrity back at Kyoto, everyone loved her. More importantly, Takeda tried to perv out on Natsuki? Does he have a death-wish?

"Even so," Haruka continued. "There are so many past violations of the rules; that I'm still going to try and expel your ass! I can't believe Tate managed to finally cat—"

"Haruka," Shizuru said calmly.

The rest of the council members, Yukino and Reito, looked up from their sleepy postures. Haruka yelling at a trouble-maker was nothing new, but Shizuru silencing her? That was interesting. The Student Council was, after all, Shizuru's quiet playground. Ever since she moved here from Kyoto she was popular amongst the students. It was no surprise when her quiet and short speech won the hearts (and votes) of the students. I mean Haruka's speech was mostly just yelling.

Haruka spun her head and glared at Shizuru, "_Yes, _oh high and mighty Council president?"

Shizuru slowly rose from her seat. Natsuki took in the school uniform, _pretty…_

"I have heard many things about you, Kuga-san," Shizuru said slowly. "And I am _very _upset with your behavior!" Every jaw in the Council room dropped.

Haruka blinked. "B-but…_w-what?" _she stammered. Shizuru was going to handle this? Since when did Shizuru actually do her job?

Shizuru shook her head. Natsuki watched in surprise. "I'm very disappointed in those who destroy our beautiful school." Shizuru became visibly upset. "Will everyone leave the room? Except for Kuga-san, of course. I'd like to have," she turned to Haruka, "a _very strict _talk with this trouble-maker."

You didn't have to tell them twice. Reito, Tate, and Yukino practically ran out. Haruka, who was a little suspicious, slowly made her way towards the door. Without another word, she looked back with a glare at the president, and then stepped outside.

Natsuki watched in awe, her jaw still open.

Shizuru smiled and glided over to Natsuki. She closed Natsuki's mouth for her, much like Nao had did earlier, and ran a hand down the side of her face. "Ara, I thought they'd never leave."

Natsuki felt a blush coming on. This was all part of her plan wasn't it? The teasing, the saving her ass from Haruka...the blush disappeared before it even reached her cheeks.

"_Natsuki," _Shizuru whispered into the younger girl's ear as she brought her arms around her into an embrace. _So warm. _

Natsuki shuddered. _It felt real_…but she had been wrong. Now she knew why the girl had a bewitching, yet fake smile…why the girl had tried so hard to get close to her. All for a stupid title? _Now I know what you're hiding, Shizuru, and you won't be getting anything from me. _"Shizu—"

Shizuru repeated the finger to lips move she had done at the hospital. She smiled wickedly at Natsuki's caught off-guard expression. "Natsuki, I have to tell you something," but the older girl, before she could confess her feelings, couldn't hold in the urge to kiss the beauty in front of her. Was there a better way to show your feelings for someone? Plus the location was making her feel particularly naughty. Student Council room anyone? How kinky!

"S-Shizur—_mmph!" _Natsuki found her words stopped by, not a finger this time, but Shizuru's own lips against hers. She was shocked for a good ten seconds…but it felt _good. _Natsuki's eyes glazed over, a light blush forming over her cheeks and nose. She felt Shizuru put a hand through her hair and rest on the back of her head, the other snaked its way around to Natsuki's lower back and pulled her closer.

The kiss deepened. Natsuki had no clue what was going on but her mouth acted on its own. Her eyes closed, she held Shizuru like she was being held, pulled her closer even. Shizuru began walking forward, Natsuki was being pushed back but she didn't complain. Soon her butt felt the edge of a desk. Shizuru inwardly grinned and helped Natsuki onto it, not breaking the kiss of course. Shizuru's hand, which had previously been on Natsuki's waist, was now lowering itself until it rested on Natsuki's thigh.

And then Natsuki's mind started drifting backwards. Back before the intoxicating kiss, back before the lips to her fingers, back to the photos. The truth. The whole horrible plan Shizuru had concocted to seduce the poor girl and steal her title. _I'm such an idiot! _

Natsuki broke off the kiss, jumped off the desk and gave Shizuru a little shove backwards. "W-what the _hell, _Shizuru?!" The ice queen was on fire. She was not only hot and bothered, but she was pissed off. Pissed off she had fallen for it, pissed off that she had allowed a faker to kiss her like that. Pissed off that her first kiss had been with someone who had no real feelings for her. Pissed that…she _might _have feelings for her, which meant she had lost to Shizuru. That's what Shizuru had wanted after all right? To gain real feelings in return for her fake ones. She stood there, back rigid, green eyes on Shizuru, and fists clenched.

Shizuru was staring at the angry wolf in absolute shock. And disappointment. She could've sworn Natsuki had liked it…could've sworn Natsuki must have the same feelings for her. Shizuru's heart sank as she saw the girl's rejection clear on her face. _Ouch. _

"Natsuki I—" the older girl began to apologize.

Natsuki shook her head. "I don't want to hear it. I know all about you know, Fujino."

Shizuru blinked. _Fujino? _And then she remembered the night before. Nao's warning. What did she tell her?

"Where's the photographer? The one that's going to take a picture of you kissing me?" Shizuru stared confused. "Proof for their little scrap book so they can say, '_look, Shizuru even tricked the Fuuka champion'_." Natsuki shook her head furiously. "You can't trick me, Fujino. You can't seduce me. I won't become another photo in your friend's scrap book of pathetic racers trapped by you. I will _never _let you win against me. You're a fake." With that Natsuki stormed out the door. _Hold in the tears hold in the tears. Don't let her see them. You're a bad ass right? You're Ice Queen, racing champion Natsuki Kuga. You're better than her! You don't resort to trickery to win…. was I just kissing a GIRL five seconds ago? _The tears came as she raced down the hallway.

Shizuru was frozen to the spot. She had hoped…had hoped Nao would tell her lies. A lie she could easily convince Natsuki was just that, a lie. But she couldn't say anything to that. That _had_ been her original intention. She _was _a fake. She _did _toy with racer's hearts just to win. This was the truth.

"Oh Natsuki…how ironic. The first time I'm _real _with you…with anyone…I am called a fake." The Kyoto beauty stood there, staring off into space as she replayed Natsuki's words in her head. The words triggered her own subconscious thoughts which were mirrored by what Natsuki had said. She had often times wondered if the fake her was the real her.

_How can I prove to you that I'm real? How can I prove that to myself?_

* * *

**Woo okay. End of Chapter 4. Hope you all enjoyed. Pretty depressing ending huh? Don't worry! It's not over yet! There's still some hope! I wanted to give Natsuki a bit of her spunk back. There's nothing like a trouble-making Kuga! I also really liked the NatNao relationship expansion in this, though this chapter was absolute hell to write. Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Next time!: Natsuki runs to…**_**Nao**_** for consolation? And Shizuru tries to think of a way to get Natsuki back! With Natsuki out of the way, how will Tomoe approach her obsession? What about that promised weekend together? Stay tuned!**

**(Oh I might not update tomorrow like I usually promise! But as I said before, there's still some hope!)**


	5. Best of Frenemies

**Hello all! This is chapter 5. Sorry this one took me two days. I get busy on the weekends with my friends. **

**Anyways just a quick warning:**

**SHIZNAT fans: PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. You MUST keep reading! No matter what horrible things are inside!! **

**NATNAO fans: PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! Or well…you might like me at first, BUT THEN YOU'LL HATE ME. Keep reading!**

**TOMOE fans: It's okay, hate me. I hate Tomoe and anyone that likes her…**_**ugh.**_

**Oh also, if anyone is confused about ANYTHING. There is a massively long answers page of any questions people brought up in the reviews**_**. **_**If you are still confused, tell me in the reviews and I will respond in the next chapter's author notes.**

**Again I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter! Thank you for reading!**

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Natsuki found herself in front of her friend's dorm room. _Wait how did I get here again? _She straightened her school skirt, rubbed her eyes of any evidence of tears, and flicked her hair back before knocking. "Nao?"

The red-headed girl, who was in the middle of strangling a certain teal-haired girl, shoved said girl backwards onto her ass and stared at the door in surprise. "Kuga?" _What timing you have, Pup. _

Tomoe growled as she got up and glared at Nao, rubbing her neck. "See? Look who's here to see you."

Nao glared right back and pointed. "If you so much as move from this spot, I will hunt you down and make you wish you were never born," Nao threatened as she walked towards the door. Her heart beat picked up as she approached the wooden obstacle between her and Natsuki. She paused. Hand almost on the door knob.

"N-_Nao_," Natsuki's voice broke on the other side. A fist hit the door, a sigh was heard. Natsuki stared at the ground, head resting on the doorway. Was Nao not home? She needed to be with someone. Anyone. _Don't leave me alone. I feel so lonely already._

"G-geez, Kuga, hold your damn horses," Nao said as she finally opened the door. She already felt bad enough. Seeing her friend like this…so pretty yet so incredibly _broken_ looking, wrenched her insides. _I helped cause this. _Nao shook the thought. _She needed to know. She was being tricked!_

Natsuki caught herself before falling forward and gave Nao a weak smile. "Hey."

Nao gave Natsuki quite possibly the warmest smile she had ever offered the girl. Natsuki's eyes widened slightly. But instead she gestured to the girl's dorm. "Mind if I come in? I just…" she looked down. "I just want to hang out with someone I guess." _I don't want to be alone. _

Nao's warm smile turned into her trade-mark mischievous grin, "I was your first choice? Where's Mai?" Nao moved aside anyways and allowed the dark-haired girl to enter. Nao was, of course, a little panicky. Natsuki had never actually…well they never openly acknowledged that they were friends besides helping each other once in a while. _I'm so bad at the comforting thing. Actually I'm really bad at the 'Natsuki' thing too. What a beautiful girl. God I hate her guts. _Nao's eyes followed Natsuki's form as she walked into the room and then froze in the middle of the floor, eyes seemingly fixated on something. _Huh? _Nao looked and face-palmed. "Kuga you know Tomoe right?" _How did I forget in 30 seconds that I already had company?_

Natsuki, who felt really uncomfortable with Tomoe's strange stare, turned to Nao and gave a nod. "Yeah we've met."

"Yeah, unfortunately for us both," Nao muttered under her breath. She knew Tomoe had been behind everything. She regretted…well _mostly…_regretted joining forces with her. Tomoe's style and Nao's did _not _mesh well. Tomoe was psychotic. Nao was…also psychotic but not to that extent.

"What?"Natsuki asked taking a seat on Nao's couch, completely ignoring Tomoe's intense stare.

"Nothing!" Nao said quickly. She pointed to Tomoe. "You, get your ass out."

Natsuki smirked a little. "Aw, Nao, be nice," it felt good to smile a little. _Thank god Nao is such a bitch. I mean I hate her, but she's entertaining and I've had a shittastic day. _

Tomoe scowled at both the girls. She didn't need Nao's help. She had already successfully gotten Natsuki away from her beloved Shizuru. Tomoe inwardly grinned, her insides getting all warm and fuzzy (well, as warm and fuzzy as they can get for a nutjob). _Shizuru is mine again. _

"Hey did you hear me? Get that smile off your face and get the hell out," Nao growled pointing to her door. She'd murder the girl later. Or, well, Shizuru might get to it first. _I wonder if Shizuru knows about Tomoe's little obsession thing? The creepy obsession thing. _Another thought hit her. _Oh god I hope Shizuru doesn't come after ME too. _Nao sat down next to Natsuki and sat back, legs propped on the coffee table in front of her.

Tomoe, who now lost her scowl and was smirking at her own inner-evilness, shrugged, "Whatever, _Juliet," _she gave Natsuki another cold glare before stalking out of the room. Get it? Stalking? The door slammed shut behind her. Nao glared at the door.

Natsuki chuckled at the use of Nao's _other _name. She stopped once the red-head's glare was turned on her. "W-_what? _I didn't tell her! What was she doing here anyways?" Natsuki questioned.

"The real question is why _you_ are here. And why exactly," she reached a hand over and ran a thumb under Natsuki's eye, "have you been crying?"

Natsuki sighed. _Crap I thought I dried them. _"I haven't! I, uh, fell." Natsuki was so used to Nao's recent outbursts of random affection that she didn't even comment on Nao touching her.

"You fell…so your eyes and cheeks are…_wet_? That makes sense _how?_" Nao quirked a brow in the other girl's direction.

Natsuki blinked then face-palmed. "Damn," Natsuki muttered. What kind of excuse was that?! She was really out of it. She let out a depressed sigh. Why did this Shizuru thing affect her so much? _I hadn't known her that long! I was fine before I met her. Absolutely fine. Why should I care? I should be HAPPY that Nao told me about Shizuru's plans. I would've looked like a fool. I would've lost. Wait that would mean her seduction had worked…which would mean I like gir— OKAY let's not go there Kuga. I mean the kiss…that didn't count! I hadn't even expected it! Right? Right. I'll beat her. I'll get my rematch and I'll beat her so fast she won't even see it coming. I'll beat her. _

Nao watched the dazed girl in front of her. Her eyes had seemed to glaze over. Nao waved a hand in front of her face, "Hey…_Hey!" _

Natsuki snapped out of it, "Huh, what?"

"Listen," Nao said pulling her feet off the coffee table and doing a quick look-over of Natsuki in a school uniform. Rare, she barely came to school. _Mental snap shot? Check. _"What do you need, Kuga? I don't have much time…and you're zombie-ing out on me. Tell me what's," Nao swallowed hard, "tell me what's wrong."

Natsuki nearly fell over. Was Nao being _nice? _Natsuki was deciding between an insult (why don't you have any time? Almost time to prowl the night for your latest victims?), a defense (I am _not _zombie-ing out!), or, well, the truth. "I'm confused." Truth it is then. Natsuki gave a quick laugh. "I have no idea why I think _you _would _un_-confuse me. You're more likely to confuse me _more_ just for shits and giggles," Nao couldn't argue with _that. "_But I just ended up here," she shrugged and looked away from the other girl…admitting that this had been the first place her feet took her after a traumatic experience…could possibly haunt her for life. Mai would've normally been her first choice but…for this? She felt like she and Nao had more of a connection, more of the same views on what was going on. Not to mention Nao was the one that told her the truth in the first place.

Nao yawned and edged closer to Natsuki, who was oblivious to Nao's movements. That was, until, she was certain her light blush had gone away and turned around to face Nao again. She found herself staring into Nao's green eyes. "Wow, Nao, you're like a ninja." She glanced down at Nao's short skirt and grinned, "A slutty ninja." That earned her a giant smack on the forehead.

"Watch it, Kuga!" Nao grinned at Natsuki's playful pout. "Okay so what are you confused about?" Nao listened intently as Natsuki explained what had happened before between her and Shizuru. Nao had cringed during the kiss part. _Ew. _"_Ara," _Nao teased in a mimic of Shizuru's Kyoto accent. Nao pretended to zip her lips when Natsuki shot her a glare. "God, Kuga, you're so uptight. Well…do you like her?"

"Absolutely not! I ha—," Natsuki stopped. Hate? Hate her? _Did_ she hate her? Or was it the complete opposite that was making her so angry? So hurt? _Bummer, in a way Shizuru stole my first kiss. Though it wasn't that bad…actually I'm pretty sure I had enjoyed it…um I mean…wait...damn it!_

"Well there's only one way to find out how you feel about her," Nao said gravely.

Natsuki looked up, startled. "What? How?"

Nao grinned devilishly. Natsuki gulped. "Close your eyes, Kuga." Natsuki hesitantly did as she was told. Since when did she blindly follow Nao's orders? No suspicion? No 'hell no, Nao, I would never close my eyes around you!' That annoyed Nao a bit, but she realized Natsuki was obviously not herself after what happened between her and Shizuru so she let it slide. "Alright, now think about Shizuru. Before the…binder-incident," Nao inched closer to the girl. Nao watched Natsuki's eyes reopen again. "Cheater," Nao whispered with a smirk on her face.

Natsuki suspiciously looked over her friend's positioning. Now she had to ask. "How exactly is this helping?"

Nao groaned. "If you don't close your eyes, I can't guarantee I won't close them for you. With my nails." Natsuki instantly closed her eyes again. "Good, okay so are you picturing Shizuru?"

Natsuki was. Really well. She could smell Shizuru, see her smile, the real…was it real? It looked real. She liked all of Shizuru's smiles. Natsuki saw her lips. The way they had been about to tell her something before they immediately dived down onto hers…

Nao watched her friend's face. _Wow she's really into this. _Nao tested the girl by waving a hand in front of her face. Natsuki didn't seem to notice. Her eyes stayed shut. Nao grinned and leaned forward, lightly touching her lips to Natsuki's.

_Shizuru? _Natsuki even felt those lips. _Wow I must be good at this. _Natsuki dreamily sighed as her imaginary Shizuru re-enacted their kiss from before. Natsuki noticed…noticed she definitely _had _enjoyed the kiss. And that was bad bad bad news wasn't it? Natsuki didn't even realize that her dream had suddenly taken a strange path off the actual events. Instead of hitting a desk, her back fell onto something soft. A couch? "_Shizuru…?" _Natsuki breathed as their lips parted.

Nao stared down in awe. _Holy shit Natsuki has it bad! _Nao was above Natsuki, who was lying horizontally on the couch, her hair getting a little messy.

Natsuki waited for Shizuru to kiss her again…but she didn't. The mini movie in her head all of a sudden went "blip!" and disappeared into blackness. Natsuki slowly opened her eyes…and saw Nao staring down at her. She bit her lip, "Please tell me we did not just…" both their cheeks reddened.

Nao snorted and sat up. "God you're _easy, _Kuga," Nao said this quietly but gave a sideways glance to see the hilariously confused expression on Natsuki's face.

Her face then became horrified. "Oh _god!" _Natsuki jumped up fast. Too fast, and hit her head on the wall behind the couch. "Ow…" Natsuki settled back into a seated position and rubbed the back of her head, then clamped her mouth shut with the other.

A completely awkward silence filled the room.

Nao was the first to break it. "I think you like her," she said deadpan.

"I think…I think I may have caught _herpes _or something!" Natsuki said pretending to rub at her lips. _Joke. That's right, make toooons of jokes and maybe we'll both forget we just played tonsil-hockey. Oh god what did I do to deserve this? I could've sworn it was Shizuru….although that still doesn't make me feel any better. But…GOD, Nao?!_

Nao turned on the girl and whacked her over the head. "If you don't shut your mouth I will kiss it again. And I _know _you don't want that," Nao winked. _Wow, I can't believe that actually just happened. It was absolutely great…but then again she wasn't kissing ME. She was kissing Shizuru. I should…probably fix this._ Nao let out a defeated sigh.

Natsuki stood up, walked farther along the couch, and sat down again. She smiled, pleased at the newly created 2 feet gap between her and Nao. Nao rolled her eyes at the handy-work. "Good job, Kuga, you managed to move two feet away. Oh _howe_ver will I reach you?" The girl's voice practically dripped with sarcasm. She sighed. "You don't' have to worry about it," Nao said more seriously, "I'm not coming after you. You're not my type," Nao had seriously decided that Natsuki and her…well… a relationship was something they already had. Their affections for each other were clearly displayed by the constant teasing and bickering, though they'd never admit to it of course. To take it any farther than that would…ruin it. They were best frenemies. Any fantasies Nao had were to be kept inside her mind. Natsuki was clearly only interested in one person now.

Natsuki rubbed her forehead. She was being such an idiot lately. "I should go," she said standing up. It had grown awkwardly quiet. Understandable, she had just made out with her frenemy! Anyone would want to leave. And fast. What she had learned at Nao's dorm was:

1.) Don't ever ever ever ever close your eyes when Nao tells you to.

2.) She was in love with Shizuru. Or something like that. She still didn't know the difference between feels for a crush and feelings for a love. It could be either one.

3.) She realized why she had so much fun in beating the snot out of idiot guys…she just _didn't _like them. In any way.

4.) NEVER EVER CLOSE YOUR EYES WHEN NAO TELLS YOU TO.

Natsuki made her way to the door, opened it, and paused before actually leaving. She turned around and smiled at Nao's clueless (and sort of bored) face, "Thanks, Nao!"

"Eh…? For what?" it was Nao's turn to go into a confused daze.

Natsuki shrugged. "For being such a fucking pain in my ass all these years," she replied as she shut the door on her friend's gaping expression. _Not like I'd ever do anything nice for her on purpose…but maybe I'll buy her some ice cream when all this gets resolved. Or a stripper. _Natsuki grinned as she imagined Nao's horrified face at finding a stripper in her room.

_

* * *

_

Natsuki pulled out her cell phone as she made her way outside of the dorm building, already feeling better than before. "Mai?"

"Natsuki? Where've you been?"

"The freakin' Twilight Zone. Listen, call up Shizuru's manager and let him or her know I'll be ready to race by Monday."

"Are you sure? Isn't your arm—" Mai's concerns were cut off by Natsuki.

"I'll get over it," Natsuki snapped her phone shut and sighed as she headed home. She mentally grumbled. Without a bike she'd have to walk ALL the way to the entrance of the school...and then walk ALL the way back home.

She was determined however. Shizuru had stolen her first kiss and her heart without even asking…without even _actually_ wanting them. Natsuki was going to make her pay by beating her so badly on Monday that she wouldn't even know what hit her. _It's on. _

_

* * *

_

Shizuru was speeding. I mean _speeding. _Like _way _over the speed limit speeding. A trail of dust blew behind her bike as she raced down the road. The velocity only mirrored by the speed of her thoughts. _What a mess. What was I thinking? Trying to kiss her…without asking! I fell too fast. I had no idea what I was doing, I just saw…Natsuki. Nothing else. I just met her and I was captivated. Ara, what a mess. I've got to make this right._

It was then Shizuru noticed a greenish, teal colored bike behind her that she recognized. _Tomoe, I've been meaning to speak with you. _Shizuru pulled off to the side and waited for the bike to catch up. It pulled up behind her, teal rider suit and helmet to match. Shizuru stepped off of her bike first, pulled off her helmet, and waited. Tomoe followed suit, then slowly began walking towards Shizuru.

"Sh-Shizuru," Tomoe nodded her head, although she was unable to take her eyes off of the Kyoto beauty whose chestnut hair flowed in the wind like she was some sort of super model, and whose amber eyes rested steadily on her own.

Shizuru smiled. "Hello, Tomoe. To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of your visit?" Tomoe blushed. In fact she damn near melted at the heavenly sound of Shizuru's voice.

"A-are you not surprised to see me?" Tomoe said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. It was only around her goddess that she spoke in such a bashful tone.

Shizuru smirked. _I've seen you around Tomoe. I know you've been up to something. _"I saw you at the race against the Fuuka champion. Kuga Natsuki, you've met her I'm sure?" Shizuru's heart fluttered at the sound of her own voice saying the name. _Natsuki…_

The face Tomoe made at the mention of Natsuki's name was all Shizuru needed. She was going to seduce the answers out of Tomoe but apparently the face was enough. Shizuru's elegant and calm demeanor changed within seconds; catching Tomoe off-guard and causing her to take an involuntary step back.

Shizuru's face was one of pure fury. "You were the one weren't you? The one that hurt my Natsuki."

"_Y-your_ Natsuki?" Tomoe took another step back. _How did she go from ridiculously sexy to absolutely horrifying? Still…even though I think I'm about to be murdered, at least I got to see a whole new side to my beautiful Shizuru. _

Shizuru actually paused to rethink her words. Oh...she did the whole 'I own Natsuki' thing again? _It's okay to possess her in my mind…but maybe I shouldn't call dibs out loud. _She shook the thoughts and approached Tomoe, so close they could kiss, although that was _far _from Shizuru's mind. "I'm not going to hurt you, because I have no proof that you did anything to her, but let me tell you this," she gripped Tomoe's arms, "You go anywhere near Natsuki again…if you even think about touching her--"

Shizuru's words were stopped as Tomoe pulled her into a kiss. Shizuru found her own arms gripped tightly by the younger (and shorter) girl's arms. Her eyes widened in surprise. Shizuru quickly shoved her backwards. She wiped her lips and gave Tomoe an incredulous look. "Ara…that was…unpleasant," Shizuru breathed. She was too much of a lady to say, "What the _hell _was that?!"

Tomoe frowned. "You know I would do anything for you! Kuga doesn't even like you! Besides, she was at Nao's today. They were getting kind of cozy on the couch." Of course Tomoe didn't really know that they _had _in fact gotten a lot more than cozy. She was just thinking of ways to ruin Shizuru and Natsuki by making up lies (that weren't that far from the truth). The wince on Shizuru's face seemed to prove it wasn't a bad idea.

"Well of course she doesn't like me _now _because of a certain obsessed—wait…what? Nao?" The last part got her attention.

Tomoe inwardly grinned then gave her idol an innocent stare. She shrugged. "Well me and Nao were having a friendly chat about a little while ago…and then _Kuga _basically breaks down the door and is all 'Nao, Nao, let me in!' and Nao practically kicks me out…after getting all comfy and close with Kuga on the couch. And then I left. I'm sure they didn't…you know…do anything like _that…_although Kuga was all over Nao, and Nao's well…_Nao." _Tomoe tried to examine Shizuru's expression. It was scary pallid. _Wow I'm good. _Again, Tomoe laughed at her inner-evil. Well, _with _her inner-evil.

Shizuru shook her head after a moment. "I don't believe you. I don't believe _anything _you say. Why should I?"

Tomoe's face became innocently confused again. "Why, I would _never _lie to you. Why do you care so much anyways? I told you I'm sure nothing happened…I mean Nao _does _want Kuga but I'm sure Kuga wasn't too out of it or anything to fight her off…" Tomoe put a finger up to her chin and looked upwards, "But then again, she did look like she had been crying…," Tomoe acted as if she forgot Shizuru was there and then 'just' realized it again. She placed her hands up to her mouth. "Oops! I'm sorry! I'm sure _nothing _happened between them." Shizuru knew she shouldn't even bother listening to Tomoe and yet…she did notice the way Nao looked at Natsuki. She noticed the way they pretended to hate each other yet teased each other constantly. It wouldn't be too surprising if…_No. No way. Why am I letting Tomoe even get to me? Everything she does is to take me farther away from Natsuki…and to make me hers. That's not going to happen._

Much to Tomoe's surprise, Shizuru put her hands up to her mouth to give one of those 'royal lady' laughs. "Ara…Tomoe you tell such tales…" Shizuru stopped laughing when she saw Tomoe's eyebrow twitch. "I'm sorry about what happened in Kyoto," Shizuru said quietly.

Tomoe's eyes widened. Meeting Shizuru, falling in love instantly, being seduced, being kissed by Shizuru, and then losing in a race to Shizuru. Losing the Kyoto champion title to Shizuru, but not caring because Tomoe _loved _Shizuru…would follow her anywhere. "I don't regret falling for you," Tomoe whispered, "I still love you. I know your kiss to me was real. I know you loved me too."

"Ara, how wrong you are. You should know better than anyone else what I do to win races."

"You were real."

"I am…_was _fake. With you. I am real now, and I don't have feelings for you. I never have," Shizuru said this coldly, but you couldn't blame her. Tomoe had followed her, taken pictures of her, taken Natsuki away from her…she didn't deserve any sympathy. Not from Shizuru.

Shizuru instantly changed back from her cold demeanor into a warm and smiling one. She gave Tomoe a wave and got back onto her bike. She placed the helmet on her head, visor flipped up. She turned to the silent crying girl. "Tomoe, I regret hurting you. I regret hurting everyone. But only _after _I hurt Natsuki. Before her I did not care about anything but winning. My initial threat still stands. Hurt Natsuki and prepare to deal with me." Shizuru flipped her visor down and turned on the engine, revving it a few times. She rode up a little to the side of the road, waiting for a few cars to pass.

_"Shi-Shizuru…" _Tomoe was left in a daze. She was staring at her idol but she saw nothing, just Shizuru's lips repeating the truth, that she had never felt a thing for Tomoe. It had all been a lie. _But it was different with us wasn't it? Didn't she kiss me different than the others? Didn't she kiss me even AFTER she beat me? Didn't that mean something? _But it didn't. Shizuru was…well…Shizuru. She kissed who she felt like it when she felt like it. They meant nothing to her until Natsuki. _Natsuki…this is all her fault. _

"Tomoe?" Shizuru's voice pulled the girl out of her psychotic mind.

Tomoe looked up hopefully. "Y-yes?"

"Stop putting cameras in my shower, yes?" Shizuru, without waiting for a reply from the dumbstruck Tomoe, flipped her helmet visor down and sped off onto the road, towards Fuuka Academy.

* * *

Shizuru was speeding by the school, intent on finding a parking, when she noticed a certain dark-haired girl walking passed the entrance to the school and heading in the direction of her apartment. The girl turned around at the sound of Shizuru's bike approaching.

Natsuki Kuga froze on the spot. Their eyes met, locked on, in fact. _Oh this is going to be awkward I can tell already. _They both thought simultaneously. Shizuru sped up then stopped in front of the frozen girl. "Ara, is Natsuki _walking_ home?"

Natsuki blinked then glared at Shizuru. "What do _you _want?" All she could stare at were Shizuru's lips. _Those were on mine not too long ago. _

Shizuru's lip twitched slightly at Natsuki's coldness, though it was to be expected. _Only you. You're all I could ever want. _"Ikezu…I _was _heading to the school," she grinned, "But I saw you instead and decided to say 'hi'." The student council president's job was _never _over!

Natsuki snorted. "Well, _bye." _She turned to leave. She fought back a blush. _Cheeks, if you so much as THINK of the color red I will…wait I'm threatening my face? _

"Natsuki what were you doing at school? School has been over for about an hour now." Shizuru was ready to try anything to get the younger girl to talk to her…to stay.

Natsuki stopped and turned around again in frustration, her hands balling up (which hurt the injured one) into fists. "I was just at Nao's, and now I'm going home. Satisfied?" Natsuki grumbled and began walking away again.

Shizuru stared after her. _Wait she really was at Nao's? So Tomoe wasn't lying. Well she could've about some things…right? _Shizuru snapped out of it and rode the bike slowly beside Natsuki as she walked.

"This is called stalking, you know," Natsuki said eyeing the rider suit-clad biker next to her.

Shizuru smiled, but she was really over thinking things on the inside. "What were you doing at Nao's?" Shizuru took in Natsuki's ruffled skirt, somewhat messy hoodie, and the un-slinged arm (_which, tsk tsk Natsuki wear your sling! Your arm will never heal that way!_). She'd definitely been sitting down. Not to mention her hair was somewhat disheveled, which it never is. She'd been lying down? At Nao's…? Yes Shizuru is very perceptive/observant.

Natsuki stared straight ahead, her fists clenched tighter. Her heart began beating faster and she felt her palms get sweaty. Being trailed and interrogated by Shizuru…especially when what she was asking brought back gross Nao memories, was a little panic-worthy. "What was I doing at—why do you care? Leave me alone I'm busy." Natsuki blushed as she remembered the kiss. Both of them. _God what a horrible horrible day. _

Shizuru stopped the bike instantly as she noticed a light blush come to Natsuki's cheek. There's _no way. Not with Nao. _"Hey," Shizuru called after her, her voice losing a bit of it's strength.

Natsuki turned around again, ready to explode. "_What do you want, Shizuru?" _

Shizuru smiled, _she said my name. Ara, I DO love when she asks that question. _"You. On Saturday. You promised me a date."

Natsuki blinked then blushed. "I don't remember ever calling it a date."

"You spend a day with me on the weekend. It was a deal, you can't go back on it," Shizuru pointed out.

Natsuki grumbled to herself. She was right, she had agreed to the deal. Natsuki may be a ton of things (sexy being one of them), but she didn't go back on her promises. "Whatever."

Shizuru knew it would be pointless in asking Natsuki if she wanted a ride. She'd obviously never agree. _Should I apologize? No…it's already weird. I have to win her back first. _"I'll pick you up. Saturday at 8am. Wake up this time will you?" With that, Shizuru did a U-turn and headed for the entrance of the school. Her mind was still a little uneasy about the whole Nao thing.

Natsuki stopped walking when she was sure Shizuru was far down the road. She crumbled to her knees. _God that was so awkward. Why did she keep asking about Nao? She probably knows Nao showed me the binder. Now I have to go on a date with her? I completely forgot. Crap why did I agree to that in the first place? _Natsuki sighed and began standing up again, hand on her beating heart which seemed to pain her every time she thought of Shizuru. She began the long trek home again. _I have to wake up at 8am on a Saturday?_

_God WHY?_

* * *

**First of all, I'd like to apologize to NatNao shippers…or well…I'm not sure how you are feeling right now. There was a kiss…but Natsuki wasn't thinking about Nao…and Nao realized their frenemy-ness is what she liked so much about Natsuki. SO yeah I'm not sure how you NatNao shippers are feeling about that scene haha.**

**I'd also like to apologize to the ShizNat shippers. For the same scene. But look on the bright side! Natsuki was thinking of Shizuru when she did it so that helps! Right! Right? ….*hides***

**Um I've seemed to have confused a ton of you, so let me explain a few things.**

**1.) Natsuki and Shizuru had NEVER met until the Bike Race. (first chapter.) Yes Shizuru's been going to Fuuka academy for a while now BUT Natsuki NEVER shows up to school, and skips out on things like school assemblies or elections where Shizuru would obviously be present. The reason Natsuki seems to "know OF" Shizuru in the first chapter, is because she's heard the name around before, she's just never cared. **

**2.) Tomoe is a complete nut job. I revealed her past with Shizuru in this chapter a little. There was a hint in the second chapter (if you could call it that) which went a little something like this: Shizuru's thoughts: **_**So this is where Tomoe had been after…well…all THAT. **_**If you're confused still: Tomoe was the former Kyoto race champion. Shizuru seduced her, kissed her, and beat her in a race (as is her usual plan.) Shizuru didn't really have any feelings for Tomoe, though Tomoe is psychotic and thought she did. Shizuru moved to Fuuka, Tomoe followed (without telling Shizuru obviously because that'd give away the whole STALKER thing). **

**3.) Natsuki in this chapter is more than a little "dazed" she's damn confused about EVERYTHING. So her guard is down, her mind isn't thinking correctly, and she is willing to shift all the trust she had in Shizuru to Nao after the kissing incident. She wasn't too affected by the kiss between her and Nao because she was too freaked out about the Shizuru thing from before, and the fact that from Nao's kiss, she realized she enjoyed the one she had with Shizuru (which definitely freaks her out more. Remember, our Natsuki is always in denial about these things). **

**4.) Those who said Shizuru's kiss was forced in the last chapter. Hells yes it was! Shizuru had been thinking about seeing Natsuki all day. Imagine being cooped up in a boring Student council room with Haruka yelling all the time. I know I'd want me some Natsuki. Shizuru also doesn't get boundaries. She's so used to seducing and getting kisses whenever she wants them, that she doesn't think she'd need to ask Natsuki. This is why the kiss was so sudden. She had never been rejected before, and had seen Natsuki's look earlier in the morning, which is the one most of the people she seduces give her within five seconds (it took Natsuki three days). **

**So to sum up the above: Shizuru's been in school a while, she's just never met Natsuki until recently. She's still considered the 'Kyoto champ' because she beat everyone in that city and moved on to Fuuka. No one in Kyoto could beat her. Tomoe is psychotic and completely misinterpreted Shizuru's kiss (which is, in a way, exactly what Natsuki did but in reverse). Natsuki is practically drunk emotionally in this chapter, so her out of character-ness can be forgiven haha. And yes the kiss seemed forced because it was quick and sudden, but Shizuru wasn't expecting there to be a problem, she was sure Natsuki felt the same way since no one had ever NOT felt the same way before.**

**SO hope that clears some things up for you people. Sorry for being confusing haha. I'm trying to write this clearly but sometimes I have trouble explaining things I guess. Oh right and Shizuru knew about Tomoe putting cameras in her shower…she just really didn't care. She has one of those "if you've got it flaunt it" attitudes because before she met Natsuki she was really sort of stuck up in a way.(well I just thought Shizuru saying that to Tomoe would be funny…but that's the excuse I have for it right now haha) I should've put that in answers. Oh well.**

**Chapter 6 preview:**

**Skip forward to Saturday. Natsuki is forced to go out with Shizuru, where will they go? Nao shows up at their date (but it's completely by mistake, even though Shizuru certainly doesn't think so). Will Shizuru make it up to Natsuki? Will I somehow fit their rematch into the next chapter? Next time on, My Natsuki: Shayp Edition. Oh wait. I mean "No Falling for the Competition" a TomoeShizNatNao fic of awesome! **

**Thanks for the reviews they're great! God I sound like Tony the Tiger.**


	6. Ara, your resistance is Futile!

**Chapter 6! Sorry I haven't been updating everyday like originally promised. It's more like every other day-ish. Anyways hope that's not a problem! Thank you for all the reviews I'm very happy with all the positive feedback =] **

**WARNING: This chapter has some adult themes lol, not like, a lot or anything BAD (M-rated) but I feel like since there's a creepy old guy…that I should at least mention it haha. This chapter is quite possibly the craziest I've ever written. Actually I'm sure of it. Not crazy as in crackfic, crazy as in there's SO much that happens. Anyways I'll stop talking. Enjoy! (please!)**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Mai-Hime, If I did, there would be a hell of a lot more ShizNatNao. There would also be a Natsuki-centric series for once!**

**Oh and the lyrics I use for five seconds are Evans Blue...I think it's called "Possession" I liked it because it was sort of like Shizuru at some points and at others It was like Natsuki talking.**

* * *

The rest of the school week went by in a blur, unfortunately for Natsuki, who was dreading the coming Saturday. She barely got any sleep Friday night. Her nerves were a mess! Shizuru Shizuru Shizuru was all she kept thinking about, with the occasional Nao thrown in there.

Natsuki groggily raised her head from her pillow and looked for her alarm clock. "What did I do with…," she felt her knuckles hurt as she remembered punching it off the end table a few days back. "Oh right." She sighed, rose from her bed, and did the usual morning rituals. She groaned when she reached the kitchen. 7:50am. There were 3 problems with this time.

1.) She was up at 7:50am on a SATURDAY

2.) Shizuru would be picking her up in 10 minutes.

3.) SHE WAS UP AT 7:50 ON A SATURDAY. _God why?_

Natsuki had no idea what Shizuru had planned for her today. In fact she would rather have not gone at all…though a part of her (and she would never admit this) secretly was excited about seeing Shizuru after avoiding her all week. _Pathetic. I truly am pathetic. Get a grip, Kuga. This girl is your competition. Nothing more. _

However, despite Shizuru being 'just her competition', Natsuki brushed her hair a _little_ longer, spent time picking out a clothes a _little _longer (before settling on a pair of black skinny jeans, her purple converse, black fingerless leather gloves, a loose dark blue tie, and a low cut white V-neck shirt…aka just Natsuki being hot damn sexy as usual) she grinned at herself in the mirror. She was still the school rebel, now she just looked like a _sexier _weekend-version of the school rebel. And the sexy rider, since the gloves resembled rider gloves. _Wow I'm getting cocky. _Though you couldn't blame her, people gawked at her beauty everywhere she went. _This is not for Shizuru or anything! _Though she blushed at the thought of Shizuru noticing she had taken extra care of herself today. _Ugh if she thinks I did this for her…_

Another look at the clock, it was 8:04am. Shizuru was late. By four minutes. Natsuki frowned and went to look for her iPod. She sat on her couch and turned it on.

_Listen as the wind blows from across the great divide  
voices trapped in yearning, memories trapped in time  
the night is my companion, and solitude my guide  
would I spend forever here and not be satisfied?  
and I would be the one_Natsuki ripped off the headphones with a loud, "GAH!" She glared at her demon iPod. "What the _hell _was _that? _That wasn't rock! Well it was at first…and then it got all…lovey dovey. How did that even get on there? Note to self: remove all evidence of sappy love song before Nao sees it." Though the possibility that Nao had put the song on there as a joke didn't cross her mind at all.

to hold you down  
kiss you so hard  
I'll take your breath away  
and after, I'd wipe away the tears  
just close your eyes dear

Through this world I've stumbled  
so many times betrayed  
trying to find an honest word to find  
the truth enslaved  
oh you speak to me in riddles  
and you speak to me in rhymes  
my body aches to breathe your breath  
your words keep me alive  
And I would be the one

"_Natsuki?" _asked a voice she now instantly blushed at the sound of.

Natsuki leapt up from the couch, threw her iPod across the room, and dusted off her pants (Which was unnecessary). _Okay Kuga, breathe. She called it a…a date but you're only doing this because you promised! Focus! _"C-coming," Natsuki called as she made her way to the door. She opened it and…

The two girls stared at each other in awe. A good 30 seconds went by as they both examined each other. Shizuru was speechless of course. She had expected Natsuki to put on something like, well, a rider suit. Or some close variation of her school uniform. Shizuru looked her up and down. She had to bite her lip to prevent from repeating any Student Council Room kissing incidents. The song "Wild Thing" began playing in her head as she imagined Natsuki giving her a slow strip-teas—

"Wow," Natsuki breathed. _Oh crap, wait, I didn't say that out loud right? _

Shizuru gave her an amused smile and raised a slender brow, "Ara, is Natsuki impressed?" Shizuru herself was, well, in her purple and pink rider suit. But it was zipped down, revealing Shizuru's envy-worthy cleavage. Not to mention Shizuru was wearing a long necklace that hung right between her breasts.

_Don't look, Kuga, don't look….damn it I looked!_ Natsuki quickly looked away blushing and praying Shizuru didn't catch her peeking. She was lucky, Shizuru hadn't noticed. She was too busy ogling the girl in front of her.

"_Ara _my Natsuki is quite stunning, yes?" She took a step and lightly brushed Natsuki's dark hair out her dazzling green eyes. Shizuru was quite pleased with the fact that Natsuki made no move to get away. Though the blush was adorably cute. Shizuru had to bite her lip again, _no sudden kissing, no sudden kissing. _"Shall we go? I'll change later…we still have all day." She winked and grabbed Natsuki's hand, dragging the poor girl down the hall, down the stairs, and towards her Kawasaki ninja.

Natsuki watched Shizuru place her helmet on, hand Natsuki her extra, and straddled her bike. _Lucky bike…wait what?! _Natsuki swallowed hard and stood staring at Shizuru.

Shizuru, noticing Natsuki's hands weren't around her yet, looked back behind her, helmet visor up. Dazzling green eyes met enchanting red ones. They both exhaled slowly before Shizuru patted the seat behind her. "Coming?"

Natsuki still stared. What she was feeling…she'd never really felt it before she realized. If before she was in denial that Shizuru had successfully seduced her, she no longer denied it. It was so obviously true. _I can't even look at her without feeling…_she placed a hand over her heart. Shizuru watched on with interest. Natsuki was in some type of daze…and she was touching her boob?

"…_Natsuki?" _

Natsuki snapped out of it, hands fell to her sides as she mumbled a, "sorry," and got on behind Shizuru. Natsuki had bought an elbow wrap that helped keep her injured arm supported instead of a sling. It wasn't nearly as good as a sling, but it would last her a day before her arm started hurting. She'd popped pain pills before anyways. Natsuki found herself staring at the distance between her and Shizuru's bodies. So close, maybe an inch away.

Suddenly, arms grabbed her own. "Like this," Shizuru whispered as she locked Natsuki's arms around her waist, squeezing their hands together before placing her own on the bike handles.

Natsuki's face was bright red; _thank god I'm sitting in the back. I've got to get it together. _"Hey, where are we going anyways?" Natsuki asked, giving Shizuru a light squeeze with her arms.

Shizuru looked behind her for any cars coming, then pulled out into the road and began her slow crawl to dangerously high speeds. "Multiple places. Remember, this is an all-day date."

"It's _not _a date," Natsuki scoffed.

Shizuru smiled. _Sure sure, little wolf. I've got you, you're all mine now. _

* * *

Shizuru parked right next to a beach. "First stop, the beach."

Natsuki hesitantly let go of Shizuru and got off, handing Shizuru the borrowed helmet. She looked around. "I think me and Nao came here once," Natsuki said absentmindedly as she peered at the swimmers and the tanners. She'd definitely be a tanner, she didn't bring a bathing suit.

Shizuru winced. "Nao?" Nao…in a bikini…with Natsuki…in a bikini. _I'm really starting to not like that Nao girl even more than before. _Natsuki turned around and gave Shizuru a quizzical look. Shizuru gave her a weak smile, then lead her down to the beach. "Grab a towel and put it down somewhere. I'll be right back." With that Natsuki was left alone. Shizuru headed off with her bag, probably to go change.

Natsuki grumbled as she spread out the towel in a somewhat not as busy area next to some trees. _Why am I going along with this? Didn't our last actual conversation involve her interrogating me? And even before that didn't we establish that she was a liar? And that she was trying to cheat me? _

"Hey, babe," Natsuki looked up at whoever just said that. Just some guy. What a surprise. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing all on your lonesome?" the man was…definitely too old to be hitting on a 17 year old girl. Brown hair, with flecks of grey here and there, a beer belly was evident. Natsuki rolled her eyes and was about to shoot off a couple insults but then…

"She's not alone," Shizuru said as she came up behind the man and smiled politely at him.

Natsuki's jaw dropped. _Holy shi—_

The man smiled at Shizuru, "Oh well she isn't then. It must be my lucky day, two beautiful ladies without a man," He said grinning like an idiot. He made it blatantly obvious he was checking her out. He slowly looked down…and then back up again, licking his lips. Shizuru was in a rather revealing purple one-piece. [think otome episode with Natsuki saying 'not down there Shizuru! *gasp* - best scene ever]

Natsuki shook her head and growled at the guy. "Hey, like something you see, jackass?"

Shizuru, who was about to completely ignore the man and go and share her surprise with Natsuki, stared at her wolf, her eyes glittering with amusement. _Ara how cute._

The man pried his eyes off of Shizuru and let them rest on Natsuki again, who was not in anything quite as revealing but _damn _did she look good. He frowned. "Why can't we all just enjoy the beach together?"

"What are you?! Forty? Get lost before I kick your—"

Ever so polite Shizuru clamped a hand over her barking wolf pup's mouth. Natsuki was bright red, a vein in her forehead looked like it was about to pop. She tried to peel off Shizuru's fingers. _Ara, my Natsuki is territorial. _

The man grumbled something under his breath, "Fine fine, I'm leaving." With one last ogle at the two of them he turned and walked off. Natsuki had the feeling they had not seen the last of the creep.

Shizuru dropped her hand from Natsuki's mouth and smiled at her fuming date. "Ara, Natsuki you're so protective."

Natsuki blushed then looked away. "I-I wasn't protecting _you _the guy's a jerk," Natsuki stammered. She mentally added him to her hit list.

Shizuru grinned, and ran a hand down the side of Natsuki's face. Natsuki sucked in a breath, _my face is one day going to stay in a blush forever, I just know it. _Natsuki moved away from Shizuru's hand. She was supposed to be mad at her remember! _Focus, Kuga. You know the truth now. _

Shizuru pouted a little at Natsuki's cold shoulder but she instead smiled and reached into her bag. "I've got something for you."

"Oh joy."

Shizuru handed Natsuki two articles of clothing. Natsuki looked at them and blinked. "Hell no!"

Shizuru pouted again. "_Natsuki, _we're at the beach! You're telling me you don't want to go swimming with me?"

Natsuki grumbled, "I don't want to do _anything _with the competition."

_The competition? _Shizuru glared at the stubborn wolf. "Liar."

"Why didn't you just take me with you to change then?" Natsuki asked as she fingered the soft material of the bikini. _Why do I have to wear the bikini? _

Shizuru grinned. "Because I was looking forward to changing you myself."

Natsuki's jaw dropped again. Shizuru helped her with that. "W-_what? _We're in the middle of a busy beach!"

"It'll just take a second," Shizuru said dragging Natsuki by the hand down to the towel with her.

Natsuki blinked. _How did I get on my back so fast? _She found Shizuru staring down at her, a mischievous grin that was Nao-worthy on her face. "Sh-_Shizuru _I'm afraid," Natsuki stuttered.

Shizuru giggled, and began unbuttoning Natsuki's top. Natsuki was frozen, her eyes filled with pure terror. The shirt came off; a loud dreamy sigh came from many members of the beach as they all secretly had been anticipating the removal. Shizuru sure liked taking her damn time. "Now the tie," Shizuru purred seductively as she pulled the tie upwards. Natsuki's head was lifted off the ground, inches away from Shizuru's face again. Shizuru giggled, "Hm, I guess just pulling it won't do." Instead she untied it. Natsuki's head fell back to the towel.

"Shizuru."

"Natsuki?"

"I'm in my _bra. _At a beach!" Natsuki yelled, her cheeks blushing furiously.

"Ara, you are! Now turn around." Shizuru grabbed Natsuki's shoulders and flipped her onto her stomach, despite Natsuki's struggles and cries for help of course. Shizuru lightly laid her fingers on Natsuki's back, tracing her way slowly down Natsuki's creamy smooth back and onto her bra unhooked her bra and pulled it from under her, flinging it somewhere nearby.

"I think…I think I hate you," Natsuki whimpered cutely as she was now trying to make sure she was as close to the ground as possible. No use in struggling now was there? The rest of the beach looked on with interest. An ambulance arrived for those with massive nosebleed outbreaks.

Shizuru giggled, knowing that Natsuki hadn't meant that seriously. She slipped the bikini onto Natsuki, latched it in the back and flipped Natsuki around again, grinning impishly. "Ara, _Natsuki _what a beautiful girl you are."

Natsuki grumbled and looked to the side, the blush refusing to leave. "W-_whatever."_

Shizuru smiled with satisfaction down at the bikini top-clad Natsuki. "Now for the bottoms," Shizuru said quickly as she darted her hands to Natsuki's feet, ripping off her converse.

"H-_hey!"_

"Ara, your resistance is futile, Natsuki," Shizuru said calmly as she made a move for Natsuki's pants. She managed to get the button out and started on the zipper. Until Natsuki's hands grabbed her own.

"God, I'm not sure whether I should be yelling 'rape' or not," Natsuki said staring into the Kyoto beauty's eyes. Now it was Shizuru's turn to be rendered speechless by Natsuki's beauty. The girl was absolutely flustered. Her hair was a little messy because of all the struggling, her skin was absolutely perfect, her eyes...dazzling. Those lips, so inviting.

Shizuru managed to free her hands of Natsuki's grip and turn the tables. Shizuru's hands squeezed Natsuki and pushed the girl backwards onto her back again, her hands being held captive above her head by Shizuru's own. Shizuru lowered her head towards Natsuki's. The entire beach sucked in a breath as they watched.

Natsuki's eyes, focused only on Shizuru's, seemed to…glitter. Her lips parted slightly, in some sort of mini-gasp at the approaching beauty's own lips towards her own. "_Shizuru…" _Natsuki whispered, her eyes fluttering closed.

"Natsuki?" Came a voice that was not Shizuru's. Natsuki shot up, bumping heads with Shizuru who fell onto her back with a groan.

Natsuki blinked, looked at Shizuru lying on her back and then turned toward whoever had spoken. "C-_Chie?"_

Chie smiled weakly and gave a small wave. "Hey, Natsuki, what were you…," Chie looked at the student council president and grinned. "What a hottie!"

Aoi came up from behind her and whacked her girlfriend over the head. "Who is a hottie?"

Chie rubbed the back of her head. "You are of course!"

"That's what I thought," Aoi muttered with a glare. She turned towards Natsuki. "Hey Natsuki! I didn't know you and the president hung out."

"Or made out," Chie added.

"W-we don't!" Natsuki stuttered, yet another blush forming on her cheeks.

Aoi looked at Chie. "They were making out?"

"Looked like they were about to," Chie said with a nod.

Shizuru, who had recovered and was now sitting next to Natsuki with a smile, reached an arm around Natsuki's shoulder and pulled the girl to her side. "Hello Chie, Aoi. What brings you to the beach?" Though she was secretly fuming. She had been about to kiss Natsuki!

Aoi beamed. "I love swimming!"

Chie shrugged. "I just like watching her swimming," Chie looked at Natsuki then winked at Shizuru, "you know what I mean."

Shizuru giggled, and then turned toward Natsuki who looked like she was about to combust if anything else embarrassing was said. "I don't, actually," Shizuru pointed out. "Natsuki, if you'd let me put on your bottoms we can see what you look like swimming!"

"I look like a swimmer when I swim! Just like anyone else!" Natsuki yelled.

Chie blinked. _Oh she's still in denial. My bizad. _"Come, Aoi. Let's go build a sandcastle or something. You can be the Queen."

"And you'll be the King?"

"No I'll be the Queen's sex slav—OW!" Chie frowned at Aoi as they walked off towards the other end of the beach.

Natsuki exhaled slowly as they disappeared down the beach. "God what a nightmare," Natsuki grumbled. She blinked and looked down, Shizuru's hand was on her jean zipper again. "Shizuru!"

This time she was too slow, however, and Shizuru already ripped off the pants. Shizuru blinked down at Natsuki's panties. _Wow sexy. _Natsuki blushed furiously as Shizuru flipped her over again. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, Natsuki."

A cold shudder went through Natsuki. It's nothing she's hasn't seen before. Was she referring to the time at the hospital or the fact that she's probably seen a ton of _other _racer's asses? Shizuru noticed Natsuki stopped struggling and had gone quiet. She didn't ask why though, she didn't want to ruin it.

Finally Natsuki was in a sexy dark blue bikini. Shizuru dragged her towards the beach, practically throwing the smaller girl in. Natsuki broke the waves with a gasp, flipping her hair back. Shizuru, who was a few feet away, admired Natsuki beautiful long hair, her form, her pissed off face…wait what?

"Way to shove me in, Shizuru," Natsuki grumbled, then giving Shizuru a playful splash.

"Ara, Natsuki you're so cute when you're wet!"

They both went quiet. _Ara that…sounded dirty. _

Natsuki blinked, felt a blush coming on (or a nosebleed), and dived under the water. Shizuru smiled as she watched Natsuki glare up at her from under the water. "Natsuki, I love you," Shizuru said as loudly as she felt like it. She knew Natsuki couldn't hear anything under there. It felt...great to say it.

Natsuki broke the surface of the water again, did the sexy hair back-flipping thing again, and gave Shizuru a goofy grin. "What did you say? I saw your lips moving but I couldn't hear—"

"Ara, does Natsuki often look at my lips?"

Natsuki's eyes slightly widened. "I-I, uh, n-no!" She dove under the water again.

* * *

Shizuru rolled over and tapped Natsuki's forehead. "_Natsuki?"_

_"I'm Natsuki_," Natsuki whispered quietly.

Shizuru blinked. Had she fallen asleep? "Yes, you are, and you're all mine." The sun was beginning to go down. They had swum, tanned, and Natsuki had fallen asleep. _Poor Natsuki must not get enough sleep._

_"Shizuru," _Natsuki continued whispering in her sleep, "_I lo—"_

_"Hey, babe!" _Called man's voice.Shizuru jerked her head up from watching the sleeping Natsuki. What had she been about to say?

"Your friend is asleep. What's say you and I go," it was the middle-aged man from before. He winked suggestively and gestured with his head to a bunch of bushes. "Over there and have some fun."

Shizuru frowned and was about to politely tell him to go away when…

"You again?!" Natsuki was up. She stood up, almost fell over (she got up too fast), and pointed in his direction. "Back the hell off, guy. You have no idea the kinds of things I can do."

He winked. "I'm sure I don't. Wanna show me?"

Natsuki grinned as she took a step forward. "Oh _yes _I do!" She balled her hands into fists and…

Shizuru pulled the fire-cracker back down onto the towel with a THUD and placed her hand on Natsuki's boob rather bluntly and out of the blue. She looked up from the terrified Natsuki and up at the guy, "Do I have to make it anymore clear?" Shizuru asked quietly.

The man's jaw dropped. Blood poured out of both nostrils. "I-I'm sorry that's…," he stared. "Really great!" He ran off, clicking his heels as he went.

Shizuru removed her hands from Natsuki's chest and turned to smile at the girl. Natsuki's face was still frozen in fear. "Ara, did my touch frighten Natsuki so much?" Shizuru giggled and closed Natsuki's jaw with her hand. She cupped Natsuki's face, her eye lids half-closed as she quietly appreciated Natsuki's beauty.

"Th-that was uncalled for!" Natsuki said snapping out of her terror and covering her chest with her arms, much like she did when Takeda had ogled her that day in the woods. "I had it under control," Natsuki pouted rather cutely.

"I'm sure you did, Natsuki. I just didn't want you to cause a scene," Shizuru said standing up from the towel.

"Right, like you molesting me earlier didn't cause a scene at _all," _Natsuki muttered sarcastically under her breath, though Shizuru didn't hear her.

The sun was much lower in the sky. It seemed to be about 5pm if Natsuki had to guess. Her hair had dried rather wavier than usual so she tied it into a long pony-tail. Natsuki yawned then looked up at the standing Shizuru who began walking away. "Where are you going?"

"To change," Shizuru said stopped as she turned around. She grinned at Natsuki, "Ara does Natsuki want to dress _me _now?"

Natsuki's eyes widened. "W-_what? _No! I'll come with you though," Natsuki picked up the clothes Shizuru had so easily discarded earlier that day and ran after Shizuru to the changing rooms.

* * *

Shizuru sighed happily as she began peeling off her one piece. Today had been a great day. A perfect Phase 1 of a 2 phase plan. That's right, there was still the night ahead of them, and Shizuru knew exactly what they were going to do. When she was finished zipping up her rider suit, she walked out of the changing booth and knocked on the one Natsuki had entered. "Natsuki? Do you need some help?"

"NO! I'm _fine, _Shizuru!"Came a panicked voice from the other side of the door.

Shizuru shrugged, she couldn't agree more. "Alright, I'll get the bike ready."

Natsuki couldn't believe Shizuru gave up that easily. She sighed as she heard the Kyoto beauty's steps disappear out of the changing room. _What a day. It's been…fun but I…I have to remember…she's competition…this could all be a trick…it doesn't feel like one but then again…that's what she's best at. _Natsuki was really just humoring herself. She knew she was already too far gone…

Natsuki was about to step out of the changing booth when she heard heavy steps coming into the changing room. It was late, they had been the last to leave the beach. "Shizuru?" Natsuki asked. The footsteps stopped. Natsuki, sensing trouble, listening intently. Heavy breathing. Not Shizuru. The footsteps approached her stall. Natsuki, who was full dressed as she had been this morning by this time, moved backwards so that she was near the corner of the changing booth. If there was a pervert or something she would be able to get a good punch in.

The door opened, standing there with a big grin on his face was the older man from earlier that day. Natsuki blinked. "_You? _For the third time today? What the hell is your problem, perv?!"

The man frowned at her. "You're not as _big _as the other girl but you'll do," the man approached Natsuki. She aimed a punch for his head, WHAM, his body fell to the ground, but not without dragging Natsuki with him.

_Shit I don't have an advantage on the ground. _The guy was heavier, stronger, he rolled on top of Natsuki grinning like a fool.

"Get. Off. Of. _Me," _Natsuki growled ignoring his wandering hand on her leg and attempting to push him off. She couldn't breathe with so much weight on her chest. The man grabbed her injured arm with his own hand and shoved it above her head. Unlike the way Shizuru had done it earlier, he did it roughly, and bent it unnaturally.

"You're mine," he whispered. Natsuki had completely forgotten about her injured arm. She wouldn't be able to fight him back with an injured arm, especially now that he had forced it into a position it shouldn't have been in. Pain ripped through it, she let out a loud scream, tears stung her eyes and streamed down her face as fresh pain seemed to sprout within the arm itself.

"She's _mine," _a Kyoto accented voice came from behind the man.

_Thud. _The man rolled off of Natsuki unconscious. An iron bar type thing fell to the floor with a clang.

"Natsuki!" Shizuru wrapped her arms around the whimpering girl and pulled her out of the changing room. "You were taking way too long, and then I heard you scream," Shizuru whispered. She sat up against the wall, Natsuki was pulled up against her like a teddy-bear.

"I-I'm okay, I just…my arm," Natsuki had dealt with men like that before. She's never failed to kick their ass before either, just the circumstances. Her arm was injured and he had gotten her to the floor. Natsuki's tears stopped flowing, the pain was throbbing now but tears were _not _her thing.

Shizuru held Natsuki closer, and placed her chin on the girl's shoulder. She planted a soft kiss on Natsuki's neck. "I'm sorry," she whispered into the younger girl's ear.

Natsuki closed her eyes and snuggled up against Shizuru. "Don't be sorry," Natsuki murmured. "Trust me, these things happen all the time to me." Shizuru didn't doubt that for a second. Natsuki was quite attractive. "Just this time…well my arm," Natsuki allowed Shizuru to run her hand softly up and down Natsuki's throbbing arm.

Shizuru finally noted how fast her heart beat was going. She clutched Natsuki tighter to her chest, rubbing her face behind Natsuki's neck and smelling her hair. Natsuki didn't mind at all this time. She was also thinking about what might've happened if Shizuru hadn't been there. Though Shizuru was keeping her warm, she couldn't help but feel a chill go up her back.

"_Natsuki," _Shizuru whispered, planting another soft kiss on Natsuki's neck. Then another closer to Natsuki's lips.

Natsuki swallowed hard. "Shizuru, I—I'm okay now. Thanks for helping me out." She made to get up as much as she didn't want to.

Shizuru held on tight, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Natsuki, please be more careful from now on." She was even having second thoughts with Natsuki's racing now. _Great I'm already becoming over protective. _

Natsuki chuckled a little and finally stood up. She helped Shizuru up. "It's not my fault men are perverted in this town," Natsuki said with a shrug. She found a piece of paper in her jean's pocket. "Hey do you have a pen?"

Shizuru raised a slender brow but reached into her bag and handed one to Natsuki.

Natsuki scribbled something down on the piece of paper and left it on the unconscious guys body. She came back out of the changing room (after giving the man a satisfactory kick) and lead Shizuru outside.

"What did you write on the piece of paper?" Shizuru asked eyeing the girl next to her as they walked towards the bike.

Natsuki grinned. "Oh, nothing. Just: **This Guy is a Rapist.** I think the public has a right to know."

Shizuru smirked and placed her helmet on. She got on the bike, Natsuki followed and wrapped her arm tightly around Shizuru. Shizuru waited for the other one, it never came. She looked back at Natsuki.

"It hurts too much," Natsuki grumbled. "I'm fine with one hand don't worry about it."

Shizuru frowned, but nodded and turned on the bike.

"You know what that asshole said?" Natsuki said as Shizuru pulled up to the road and waited for some cars to go by.

"What?"

"'You're not as big as the other girl but you'll do," Shizuru, despite having a clear opening to pull onto the road turned around to face Natsuki with an incredulous look on her face. "I know," Natsuki said at the look on Shizuru's face. "The nerve."

Shizuru giggled a little.

"I'm just…I'm glad it wasn't you," Natsuki whispered as she placed her head on Shizuru's shoulder.

Shizuru smiled underneath her helmet. "Ara, If it was me, I'm sure Natsuki would've come to my rescue sooner than I came to hers, yes?"

Natsuki couldn't argue with that. "Yeah probably," she chuckled. "I wouldn't let anything happen to…I wouldn't let anything happen to you," Natsuki declared. The sentence had started off quietly, Natsuki felt a blush coming on, but she pressed that down and said it loudly and proudly. She'd protect Shizuru no matter what.

Shizuru wished she hadn't pulled onto the road, because she would've jumped off the bike and ravished Natsuki right there. She sighed happily. _Is this proof enough, my wolf? Do you understand I love you? Do you believe me? _

"Where are we going anyways?" Natsuki asked.

"Surprise."

"Again?"

"Yes."

"Ugh."

* * *

Shizuru pulled up to what seemed to be a…really fancy restaurant. You know, the kind Natsuki would never be caught dead at. Natsuki eyed the large white building warily. There was music coming from inside.

Shizuru parked the bike. They did their usual get-off-the-bike thing and headed inside.

Natsuki looked around in awe at the fancy building. White columns, people in suits and dresses…she felt ridiculously under-dressed. She glanced over at Shizuru. _At least I'm not in my rider suit. _There seemed to be a party going on. Natsuki was eyed by waiters…but they must've been gay because they weren't lustful gazes they were 'what is this street person doing in our fancy restaurant' type stares. Shizuru did not get any of those however. Instead she got greeted.

"Hello, Ms. Fujino!"

"Hello," Shizuru waved and gave them all dazzling smiles. Natsuki glared at all of them.

She tugged on Shizuru's arm. "Hey what are we doing here? I keep getting weird look—"

"Shizuru! Kuga-san!" Natsuki and Shizuru turned around.

"Reito!" Shizuru beamed at him.

"Kanzaki…?" Natsuki blinked. She looked away when Shizuru hugged Reito, his hand rather low on her back…_super _low. _Too low. _Natsuki tried her best to ignore it and not growl.

"I'm so glad both of you could come," Reito continued as he stepped away from his hug with Shizuru. "Please enjoy yourselves. The bathrooms are over there if you want to change into something less," He tilted his head to look over Shizuru and then Natsuki, "I don't have a word." He said sighing. "But please _do _enjoy yourselves!"

Shizuru smiled warmly. "Oh we will, Reito. Thank you for inviting us."

"Of course of course!" Reito waved and disappeared into the crowd of…_holy hell is that half the school? _

Shizuru turned to Natsuki. "Let's go change."

"I don't have—"

"I know, I brought something for you—"

"Okay that's weird. How do you know what size I wear and stuff?"

Shizuru shrugged. "I can just tell." The truth was she really just asked for the clothes for 'perfect proportions' and yup, Natsuki had perfect proportions.

Natsuki eyed Shizuru. "Listen I think I'd rather just stay in my clothes I'm wearing now." Natsuki looked across the crowd of dancing, eating, and talking kids. Not everyone was dressed fancy. She spotted a few jeans and tank tops here and there.

Shizuru frowned. "But I picked out such a cute…"

"I bet you it's ridiculously revealing."

"Ara…Natsuki knows me too well…" Shizuru pouted.

Natsuki shook her head. "No way no how. I'll wait out here for you." She crossed her arms and looked down, avoiding Shizuru's pleading gaze.

Shizuru finally gave up. "Ara, alright, I will see Natsuki in a few minutes then."

Natsuki watched the gorgeous girl walk towards the restrooms. She sighed. What a day this was turning out to be. Although, despite a few setbacks, this has been one of the most fun days she's had in a long time.

"Kuga!"

Natsuki turned around. "N-Nao?" Nao was…_wow. _She was wearing a ridiculously low cut red dress that had a long slit up to her thigh. She looked like some sort of fiery sex vixen. Well that wasn't news. Natsuki swallowed hard. _She looks great. _

Nao was mirroring her thoughts. She liked how Natsuki's hair was tied back into a pony-tail. Her dazzling green eyes and beautiful facial features were now easier to see. The V-neck gave a nice view while the jeans, converse, and gloves gave Natsuki her same rebellious look that she usually had on. Nao smiled. "Well, gosh gee whiz, isn't _Kuga Natsuki _oh so pretty tonight?"

Natsuki blushed, then coughed nervously. "You, ah, you too, Nao." Natsuki noted a look in Nao's eyes. Something was a little off. The sharpness usually in those lime green orbs was a little dim. Glazed over even. "Nao, have you been drinking…?"

Nao giggled girlishly. "No silly!"

Natsuki's eyebrow twitched. "S-silly?"Nao saying words like 'silly' made Natsuki want to gag.

Nao giggled again and took a step closer to Natsuki. "My, my what dazzling eyes you have, Kuga."

Natsuki took a step backwards, her eyebrow raising in confusion. "Nao…?"

"My, my what beautiful hair you have, Kuga," Nao said as she moved some of it from in front of those beautiful emerald eyes. _Kuga sure is hot! _A drunken Nao thought. _She always comes to my rescue when I drink! And here she is! What timing this pup has! _

Natsuki blinked in surprise. "Nao maybe you should sit—"

"My, my! What soft, sexy lips you have, Kuga," Nao pulled the other girl into a kiss, much like the first one they shared earlier that week. Well, except Natsuki wasn't into this one.

"_Mmph!" _Was the only sound Natsuki could make with Nao's lips pressed against hers. Her eyes widened slightly._ What the hell! Is everyone hormonal today? I think, counting Shizuru, Rapist guy, and Nao, I've been molested three times today. _

"I believe that's mine," Shizuru said pulling Natsuki by the back of the shirt. _God, twice today I've had to pull someone off Natsuki. This girl is a lot of work. _

Nao pouted rather cutely. "B-but…I saw her first," Nao whined.

Natsuki stared horrified. _Okay just for Nao's (and okay, my) sake I promise not to ever bring this up or tease her about this._

Shizuru glared at Nao, but realized she wasn't coherent. "Ara…Nao perhaps you've had enough fun tonight?"

Nao reached for Natsuki's hand and giggled when she clutched it in her own. "Natsuki's my puppy. My dim-witted, oblivious puppy."

Natsuki turned red, "Hey!"

Shizuru eyed their interlocked hands, an uneasy feeling arrived in her stomach. She began pulling Natsuki away. But was surprised when Natsuki didn't follow. She turned around, and said sharper than usual, "What is it, Natsuki?"

Natsuki watched Shizuru's annoyed crimson orbs. _Is she…is she JEALOUS? Wow I did not expect that from Shizuru. _Natsuki shook her head. "I can't leave Nao like this," Natsuki said holding up their hands, Nao's death-grip would not be coming off anytime soon. Natsuki didn't even notice the incredibly sexy dress Shizuru was wearing.

Shizuru stared at Natsuki. "Ara…leave her like what? She looks fine to me."

Natsuki blinked at Shizuru's sudden immaturity. "Listen we should take her home, whenever she get's like this…," Natsuki stopped mid-sentence to lightly shove Nao's body from pressing up against her own. "She gets into trouble."

As if just on cue, a tall young man appeared beside Nao. "Hello, um, you seem to be attached to my date."

Natsuki glared at him and pulled Nao closer to her (despite doing the exact opposite a second before.) "And you are?"

The man look surprised. "Keichi…I met Nao today, she's quite the fun girl!"

Natsuki nodded. "Yeah okay get lost, buddy." Shizuru, who was slowly losing more and more patience watched helplessly as her date defended another girl she just shared a kiss with.

"Puppy…*hic* you're so…*hic* cute! My protector," Nao draped her arms around Natsuki's neck and rubbed her head into the crook of Natsuki's neck. Natsuki gave Nao an uneasy look.

Nao's date however looked on in interest. "Hey if you two want to come back to my place…"

Natsuki downright _snarled, "_If you so much as touch this girl, I will hunt you down." The sentence showed just how similar Natsuki and Nao truly were. Hadn't Nao used that same threat before? Natsuki glared at Keichi, "As I said before, get lost."

Shizuru stomped away, leaving Natsuki there to deal with her _issues. What IS this? Wasn't Natsuki with me? Wasn't Natsuki protecting me? Wasn't Natsuki…why am I so jealous? That kiss. That was…_Shizuru's heart pained her. She grumbled as she walked over to the juice bar, and leaned up against the counter as she watched Natsuki (who hadn't even noticed Shizuru leaving) protect Nao.

"Pu-puppy, do you *hic* remember *hic* that t_iiiime? _Like, this week *hic*. Where we were on my couch and we kiss—" Natsuki clamped Nao's mouth shut, and for the first time noticed Shizuru was farther away, glaring at them.

Shizuru _had _heard that last part. Now it was her turn to jaw drop.

"Shizuru-Sama," called a quiet voice next to Shizuru. Shizuru managed to tear her eyes off of Natsuki's for a second.

"What?" she asked the girl coldly. The girl she had seen around before. _In fact she might be the same girl that I asked to put sun tan lotion on me that one time…._.

The girl, who had dark brown hair, and green eyes (which dulled comparison to Natsuki's) smiled weakly. "Would you like to dance?"

Shizuru blinked in surprise, turned towards Natsuki who was still watching her curiously, and then nodded. "Yes, let's dance." _On the couch kissing Nao...grr_

Shizuru, and the girl whose named happened to be Irina, moved towards the middle of the dance floor. Much to Natsuki's horror of course.

_God tell me that is not a slow song starting, _Natsuki thought as her ears waited to pick up the slightest hint that it will be slow. The slow song started. _DAMN IT._

Natsuki pulled Nao closer so that it would be easier to carry her outside. "Mai?" Natsuki yelled to the crowd. There was no response at first…but suddenly a red-head craned her neck out of the crowd.

"Natsuki?" Mai caught sight (and what a great sight it was) of the beautiful biker and made her way over smiling. "hey there, Natsuki and…" Mai tilted her head at Nao, "Nao…" Mai gave Natsuki a quizzical look.

Natsuki shook her head as if to say 'don't ask'. Mai didn't. "Follow me," Natsuki whispered as she headed out the way she came, carrying a drunken Nao with her.

"My, my! What strong arms you have, Kuga! *hic*" Nao made a gurgly sound as she looked around the outside.

Mai let out light wind-chime like laughter. "Whoa, Natsuki, looks like Nao has a bit of a cru—"

"Yeah yeah," Natsuki grumbled as she tried to lay Nao down on a bench. Finally she managed to get Nao into a comfortable position. She slightly titled Nao's head to the side. "If she throws up, she won't choke on it," Natsuki explained to Mai, who just nodded. Natsuki tried to stand up (she was leaning over Nao) but something was stopping her. She looked down. Nao had tugged on her tie. Her childish smile gracing her lips. _Nao, your childhood was stolen. _Nao pulled Natsuki's tie with more force this time. Yet again their lips met. This time, however, Natsuki was able to break it off within 2 seconds.

Mai stared shocked. "I didn't really know Nao…"

Natsuki shook her head and stood up. "She's just drunk; she has no idea what she's doing." Though Natsuki wasn't sure if that was true or not. Natsuki looked warmly down at Nao, who had closed her eyes. Natsuki turned back to Mai. "Do you mind watching her for me? I was sort of in the middle of something with Shizuru…Nao just needed to get some air. I promise I'll be back."

"Sure thing, just send Mikoto outside when you see her to keep me company!" Mai said.

Natsuki nodded and headed back inside. She looked around, finally spotting Shizuru. She was still on the dance floor with some random girl. Natsuki inwardly growled. _What's wrong with me? She's allowed to dance with someone… why should I care? _Natsuki your resistance is FUTILE.

Natsuki began making her way towards Shizuru, when a man stepped in her way. "Hey what did you do with my date?" It was Keichi.

Natsuki frowned, and aimed a well placed kick to his groin. Keichi went _down. _Clutching his balls with an intense expression of pain on his face. Natsuki sighed happily, ignoring all the dancers that had stopped to stare in awe at the violence so calmly displayed by the ice beauty. A few of her own fangirls gave each other's high fives. Natsuki in action! _Nice. _

Natsuki, completely not fazed by the now murmuring crowd, made her way to a now amused looking Shizuru. "Want to dance?"

"Ara, but there's no music," Shizuru said. Irina had bolted the second she saw Natsuki coming.

"I honestly don't care, I've had a hell of a day," Natsuki said taking Shizuru's hand and pulling her to the middle of the silent onlookers.

_Hey that guy looks like he's in intense pain…should we get him help?_

_Ouch that looks rough._

_God I'm glad I'm not him._

_That wasn't Takeda?_

_Look at Natsuki! She's gorgeous. _

_Natsuki? Look at SHIZURU. She's stunning._

Natsuki and Shizuru began dancing; the music had started up again, just for them. Natsuki slipped her arms around Shizuru's waist and looked down blushing. She _just _realized what she had done. Kicked a guy in the balls, caused onlookers, and asked Shizuru to dance. _Well I have to make it up to her, she looked pretty pissed before. _

"…How is Nao?" Shizuru asked quietly.

"She should be fine," she sighed. "I'm just…we've got each other's backs. We don't talk about it, but we just _know. _I can't let anything happen to her."

Shizuru nodded. She felt foolish for acting so immature before. Natsuki was such a good friend. And she got jealous? Well sure there was the kissing but you know, whatever, Nao was drunk. Shit happens right?

Shizuru pulled Natsuki closer. "I'm sorry for acting like an idiot before," Shizuru whispered into the younger girl's ear.

Natsuki shrugged, twirled Shizuru, then pulled her back. "It's okay, I hate your fangirls. Every single one of them."

Shizuru raised a slender brow but said nothing about Natsuki being jealous. She just wanted to enjoy the rest of the night.

* * *

**Whoa so. This chapter was let's see….about double + 2 pages longer than my previous chapters. I knew people were excited for the date and didn't want to screw it up. A lot of this may seem random but that's because I made up a lot of it as I went along. I originally had planned for a masquerade party, but yeah, it didn't turn out that way. Drunk Nao was fun to write. Did anyone get the little red riding hood reference? Probably, I made it obvious. This chapter was MUCH longer than my others so there will probably be more typos as going over such a long chapter will be hard (I lose my momentum by the end haha). This chapter had a lot interesting things in it I think. Lots of Shiznat moments and of course some NatNao in the end. I'm a big fan of love triangles, jealousy, betrayal, etc, it just makes things more interesting don't you agree?**

**In other news, I already know what my next fic will be like, but I'm not giving it away just yet. All I'll tell you about it is that it's definitely darker, focuses more deeply on Natuki's relationships with Shizuru and Nao...and her father (her abusive father). I'll finish this fic first! Um no preview for the next chapter since I'm actually switching some things around, I don't know who will win the rematch, I just know Tomoe will have something to do in the end. I think maybe one or two more chapters for this fic…possibly an alternate ending and if you guys want me to continue even after the rematch and whatever else happens I will! So yeah. Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to review I love hearing feedback!**


	7. Learning the Dip

**Okay Chapter 7. **

**First of all, I'd like to say that…after re-reading my last chapter…I am not happy at all. I know many of you loved it (and thanks for the reviews!) but it just wasn't where I wanted to go with this story just yet. A lot of it was OOC, Natsuki was acting way too nice to Shizuru. WAY TOO NICE. I didn't want Natsuki to be that nice yet. Shizuru was still a little ridiculously forward, despite the fact that I wanted her to be more 'serious' when it came to winning Natsuki over. Overall, I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I think it's probably better if I plan out my chapters beforehand (like I did with my last 5) so that I don't have random OOCness and crackfic-ness. To those that DIDN'T enjoy the last chapter, it's cool. I totally get it haha. It went against what I said in the first chapter, when I said I'd be taking their relationship slowly. I think it was because I was a little under pressure, a ton of reviews mentioned the date and I didn't want to screw it up for them(which is not the reviewers fault at all!!)…I was trying too hard to please everyone I think haha. I'm going to try and repair the damage to my story in this chapter, so even though they were getting all chummy in the last chapter, I've decided I'm going to make Natsuki more…well, Natsuki again. And Shizuru less…B IG SISTER SHIZURU from Otome if you know what I mean. So right. On with the story. (sorry for such a long author's note) **

**P.S I know I said I'd finish this story before I start my next one, but I've been putting a lot of thought into the next one so I might post the first chapter (just to get it out of my system) and THEN finish this one off.**

* * *

_Brrring Brrrring. _Natsuki watched her phone have a seizure on her table. She slid her plate of Mayo sandwiches away and grumbled, "What now?" as she grabbed her phone and flipped it open. "Kuga," Natsuki said through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Natsuki? Your new bike just came in."

Natsuki nearly choked on her sandwich. "Great," she said trying to act cool to make up for her coughing fit. "I'll be there in…oh wait I have to walk…uuuh, give me twenty minutes." The school was right by the garage luckily, so she had time to run by Shizuru's office and give her a final, "You're going down," speech before tomorrow's race.

Natsuki grabbed her bag, which was stuffed with a thermos filled with god-knows-what, her rider suit, and her helmet, and began her long trek to the garage.

--

Arriving at the shop, she noticed there was no one behind the desk and walked into the back room.

"Natsuki! Welcome, your bike's over here. Your friend's looking it over for you," the man known as Yamada said.

"My…friend?" Natsuki blinked in surprise. _Who did I tell? Um, that's right, no one. _She followed Yamada through a metal door which opened into a giant garage full of bikes, cars, and ATVs. And there, in the middle of the room stood her beautiful Ducati. She bolted and lunged onto it, kissing it and hugging it. "Oh bike, bikey bike, I love you."

"Whoa, Kuga," Takeda said as he pushed himself out from under a car he had been working on, wrench in hand. "If only I were that bike," he said with a small smile. He stared in fear at her glare, "J-just kidding…" _not. _

Natsuki grinned. "Nice eye patch," she said with a hint of amusement in her voice. "What happened?"

"Oh, a psycho stripper in the woods attack—" one look at Natsuki's death glare, and Takeda pushed himself under the car again.

Natsuki chuckled to herself as she went back to ignoring Takeda's existence and focused on her bike. She ran her hands down the seat, felt the handles, touched the wheels. "If you were a guy I would do you right here," Natsuki said with a nod. _Or a girl…?_

_CLUNK. _Natsuki turned towards the car Takeda had been working under. "Ow…," she heard him whimper. She snorted and stood up.

"Let's see…," Natsuki slowly sat on the seat. _Oh yes, this is good. This is TOO good. I've missed you so, Mr. Ducati. _Her hands slowly made their way to the handles. With a slight wince, she managed to get them in the right position, though turning her injured-hand too much would really hurt. _Maybe I should reschedule the race…my arm isn't—_

"Kuga."

Natsuki looked up from her bikes handles, only to find a teal-haired girl watching her from the shadows. God she's like Nao, ridiculously dramatic. "Tomoe?"

Tomoe took a step into the light, a weird smile twisted on her face. "I've been watching your bike for you."

Natsuki looked down at her bike, "You're the…_friend _that was looking over my bike_?" _This girl…she knew her, but they certainly weren't friends. _Besides that look she gives me…it's like she's murdering me in her mind or something creepy like that. _

Tomoe nodded. "It looks fine to me." Tomoe's face had changed, Natsuki realized. Before there had been some sort of…spark, that kept her going. And now? Now she just seemed…well, still creepy, but the spark was gone. She was almost robotic now. It was creeptastic to say the least.

Natsuki nodded slowly. "Y-yeah…thanks, I guess." Natsuki tilted her head to better examine the strange girl. _She doesn't look like one of my fangirls…_, "Well I should go," Natsuki said turning on the engine.

Tomoe frowned. "Off to see Shizuru?"

Natsuki rolled her bike towards the exit and paused, turning around to face the girl with a confused expression on her face. "_What?"_

"Your girlfriend," Tomoe added impatiently.

"Don't be ridiculous," Natsuki scoffed. "Rule number 3. No falling for the competition." She recited it loudly, though she wasn't sure she was innocent of breaking it. With a nod she revved the engine and sped off towards the school. She, exhaled slowly, for some reason she had had a feeling something would be wrong with her bike, but apparently it really _was _fine. "Hm."

* * *

Natsuki did a couple illegal things. Basically she rode her bike _onto _school grounds. She drove up walking/wheelchair ramps, zoomed through lawns, raced through residence halls. Hey, it was Sunday, no one would know! Finally she skidded to a halt in front of a dorm, got off, put her helmet away and walked up to the building. Once inside, she found the door to her friend's room. "Nao?" she called.

There was some rustling on the other side. She heard a groan, and then the door clicked unlocked. It opened a crack, a lime green eye peeked out before opening the door more.

Nao looked like she had been to hell and back. "Kuga? What do you want, I feel like shit and I'm not in the mood for your cra—"

"Save it," Natsuki said rolling her eyes. She reached into her bag, pulling out the thermos. "Here," she handed it to Nao who stared at it dumbly. Natsuki chuckled. "It won't kill you, it's for the hangover." Natsuki had been given an alcoholic beverage at a party once (despite her saying she didn't want to drink), her fans had been trying to get her drunk. Mai had taken care of her and taught her how to make insta-go-away-hangover juice.

Nao stared at the drink. Stared at Natsuki. And slammed the door shut.

Natsuki smiled, and walked back to her bike. _Now to talk smack to Shizuru, and then do some practice laps at the track. _Natsuki had at first been worried she'd drive herself mad not knowing what to do with herself the day before the race. It wasn't rare for her to turn into a nervous wreck before a race.

* * *

Natsuki found herself stopped outside of the Student Council room. _Why haven't I barged in yet? _She frowned as she felt such a weird feeling in her stomach. _So lame, Kuga, so lame. _

Before she knew it, the door opened up. "Ah, Kuga-san!" It was Reito.

Natsuki blinked, a little embarrassed at being caught standing outside the Student Council room while zoning out. "K-Kanzaki, uh, hey…" _I don't know why, but I really don't like this guy. He's too…perfect. Like annoyingly Mr. Perfect. I have a strong desire to punch him…_

Reito watched the blue-haired girl's face with interest, as she seemed to be enjoying some type of fantasy only she could see. He gave her a bright smile. "What do you need, Kuga-San?"

Natsuki snapped out of her sick murderous fantasy and blinked. _Huh? Oh right. _"Is Shizuru around?"

"Ara ara…Natsuki came to look for me? I'm honored," said a beautiful Kyoto-ben from behind her.

Natsuki turned around, a light pink tint to her cheek. "S-Shizuru, hey. I just came by to tell you--"

Shizuru wrapped her hand around Natsuki's and pushed by Reito, entering the room. Shizuru dropped Natsuki's hand before she sat down at her desk. She peered up at the biker from under thick lashes. "Continue."

Natsuki rubbed the back of her neck. She usually liked to give these types of speeches when she was feeling confident, but somehow the chestnut haired girl always seemed to suck her aura of coolness away from her. "I just wanted to let you know that," Natsuki paused. Shizuru tilted her said slightly as she examined the younger girl, a slight hint of amusement in her eyes. "I just wanted to tell you that you're going down tomorrow. And just because we're semi-friends I'm not going to go easy on you at all."

"Ara, does Natsuki think I'm easy?"

Natsuki blushed then stammered, "N-no you know what I mean, Shizuru!"

They eyed each other for a long moment. Shizuru was contemplating what exactly semi-friend was. She was sure they had at least reached friend status. I mean the promised date had been fun. They'd kissed…sure it wasn't on the lips like Shizuru had hoped, but it was _something. _Semi-friends didn't kiss each other did they? Not to mention Natsuki had been awfully cute the day before. She had acted protective, jealous, and brave all for Shizuru…so why was she acting like none of that had happened? Shizuru tried to figure the girl out by staring into her emerald orbs with her crimson ones but she still couldn't figure out what was going through the girl's head. So was Natsuki smitten with Shizuru or not? _Ara I wish she'd pick a team and stay on it._

Natsuki on the other hand just wanted to leave. The longer they stayed in this staring eye contest the more she wanted to bolt. Shizuru had too much power over her, she had realized after leaving the party last night. She did like the girl's company, she had probably broken rule number 3…but who knows for sure? Yesterday proved nothing to Natsuki except that Shizuru was seriously sexy, slightly crazy, and ridiculously flirtatious. Oh and a ton of fun. Did that mean it was the real Shizuru though? The one she had asked to meet…or the one that had fooled her and tried to take advantage of her? _Molestation on the beach seems to equal fake Shizuru…and yet I think she really got a kick out of teasing me so…that equals real Shizuru. God I wish this woman would pick a personality and stick with it…I get so confused. _

Natsuki blinked. "Crap, I lost," she said with a frown.

Shizuru stared, a quizzical expression gracing her near-perfect features. "Lost what?"

"The staring eye contest…"

Now was Shizuru's turn to blink. _Staring eye contest..? _She couldn't help but let out a giggle. This girl was so childish sometimes. "Ara, and here I thought we were staring lovingly into each other's eyes…," the Kyoto born teased.

Natsuki's face puffed red. "W-whatever. I'll see you tomorrow. Bring your best." Natsuki grumbled as she made her way to the door.

"_Natsuki?"_

Natsuki froze mid-way out the door. _Damn I hate the power her voice has over me. _She turned around and entered again. "What?" she asked.

Shizuru gave her a dark smile. "I don't intend on losing tomorrow. I want you to try your best as well. I won't be taking it easy on you just because you're cute if that's what you're worried about."

Natsuki stared for a few seconds, her lips then curved into a smile. This took Shizuru back by surprise but she covered it well. "Good. Oh and you know that girl Tomoe?" Natsuki asked.

Shizuru's smile dropped. "Yes…" _unfortunately. _

"I think she's a total nutter, I'd steer clear from her," Natsuki said as she gave a quick wave and left the room, shoving Kanzaki out of the way as she left.

Shizuru stared at the place the younger girl, and object of her desires, had been standing seconds ago. _I wonder what Tomoe said to her…I should probably let Natsuki know about Tomoe before the race…and I should make sure she isn't planning anything._

"Shizuru? Will you be leaving soon? It's a Sunday and you have a race with Kuga-san tomorrow. Maybe you should go practice," Reito said sitting onto his desk and watching his friend with warm eyes.

Shizuru nodded, and began packing up her bag. "Yes, I do think I'll stop by the track later. You're welcome to join me, it gets awfully boring out there alone."

Reito smiled. "I would love to watch you."

Shizuru raised a brow in his direction. The way he said 'watch you' made her wonder if he meant…well, _watch her lustfully. _She shook the thought from her mind, though she had no doubts Reito was attracted to her, and gestured for him to follow her from the room.

* * *

Natsuki arrived at the Biker Club, drove to the nearby race track, and left her bike idling for a few minutes as she got up to sign in. She checked over the list of names quickly. No one had really been by today except Tomoe and Chie. Tomoe had just left, and Chie hadn't signed out yet. Natsuki blinked then looked around the race track, no one was there.

"Natsuki!"

Natsuki turned around, and there was Chie, straddling her silver bike and waving. Natsuki waved back, but with less enthusiasm. "Hey, Chie, wanna do some practice laps with me?" Natsuki asked beckoning to the race track.

Chie frowned. "Aw, I wish you had gotten here earlier I just did like 40."

"And you probably still can't beat me," Natsuki said with a grin.

"Well duh, no one can beat you," Chie said grinning back. She checked her watch. "Mai said she'd be coming here sometime tonight to set up your tent and have it all ready for tomorrow. Maybe she'd want to race you."

Natsuki sighed. "Not everyone in this school can race, Chie."

Chie gave a goofy grin. "Oh right. She's more like the uh, cheerleader for the Kuga Squad right?"

Natsuki chuckled. "You could say that." _I'm so going to tell Mai what Chie called her. _

Chie nodded and gave Natsuki a mock salute. "Well I'm off to go see if Aoi wants some makeup sex."

Natsuki's cheeks turned bright red as she looked away. "Too much info, Chie."

Chie frowned. "Was not. I didn't even go into detail about why we need to have makeup sex. You see, Aoi found out that I had angry sex with that Mashi—"

"Seriously, Chie!" Natsuki said covering her ears. "I do not want to know."

"Don't waste your time, Chie, Natsuki's a total prude," said another familiar voice.

Natsuki and Chie both looked up. "Oh hey, Nao," Chie said with a dazzling smile. _I wonder if the Spider is into chicks. _

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Nao. Wanna race around a bit?"

Nao rolled her beautiful blood red and black bike next to Natsuki's then got on it. "Like you had to ask."

Natsuki watched her put her matching helmet on. Black webs were painted all over it. "Hey are you sure you're okay to race? No hangover or anything?"

"I'm fine. Whatever you gave me cleared me up in about an hour, pretty good stuff," Nao said as she flipped her helmet visor down. "Thanks," she murmured, though Natsuki didn't hear it as she was already heading for the starting line.

"Okay, I'm off, have fun you two!" Chie said with a wave as she flipped her own helmet visor down and sped off on her silver and chrome bike.

Nao didn't bother waving. Natsuki waved but was too late, as Chie was already disappearing into view. "She speeds too much," Natsuki commented.

"Like you're one too talk miss 'Let me ride my bad ass motorcycle around the school just because I can and I like doing bad things.'"

"That was a long 'little miss' insult."

Nao shrugged. "There was no easier way to fit it. Oh and you left skid marks all over the school. Okay, three laps? And after I beat your sorry ass you will buy me…you know what, screw it, just give me your money after I beat your ass."

Natsuki rolled her eyed. "Okay and if I win, I get to make fun of you for trying to rape me last night." Natsuki got immense amounts of pleasure at the expression on Nao's face. It was a mix of pure and utter terror, and trying to stay calm and deny deny deny!

"W-what are you talking about, Kuga? KUGA?!" Nao raced after her friend who was already speeding around the first curve. _Lousy cheater! _

* * *

Natsuki handed the pissy Nao an ice cream bar. "For the sore loser," she said as Nao swiped the ice cream from her hand.

"Since when did the Biker Club sell ice cream anyways? The place is such a dump," she took a giant bite, "I don't even know if this is healthy." She swallowed.

Natsuki chuckled and made her way back to the race track.

"Hey Natsuki!" a certain red head called. She came running. She came running _too _fast, and in fact slammed into the cobalt-haired girl.

They crashed into the ground. Nao kept walking mumbling, "Dumbasses."

Natsuki glared after the fiery demon that she had just bought ice cream for and then helped Mai up. "What's the rush, Mai?"

Mai blushed. "S-sorry. I just haven't seen you in a while…I sort of tripped I think." Mai said frowning at her feet.

Natsuki waved it off. "Don't worry about it." Though her arm started to slightly throb. "How's it going?"

"I set up your tent. Everything is ready for tomorrow night, were you practicing?" Mai asked.

"Thanks, and yeah. I think I'll head home though. I already beat Nao like 400 times."

"I heard that!" yelled the fiery demon, who had gotten on her bike again and was leaving the track.

Natsuki grinned and gave Nao a wave. She turned back to Mai who was…blushing? "Mai, what the hell?"

Mai shot her head up. "Huh?"

"You're blushing," Natsuki said as she unscrewed a water bottle and took a long drink, eyes never leaving her strange friend.

"I am?" Mai held a hand up to her cheek. "Sorry," she smiled. "I have no idea why that is."

Natsuki shrugged, she really couldn't care less. "Well I think maybe I'll do one more lap and call it a day," Natsuki said looking across the empty track.

"Kuga-san!"

Natsuki's eyebrow twitched. That voice…same one as earlier. She slowly turned around, "Kanzaki…?" What was a goody goody doing at the Biker Club? _And why is he on the back of Shizuru's bike. And why do I care? _She involuntarily zoomed in on his arms around the Kyoto goddess. _Ugh. _She rolled her eyes, Mai giggled.

Reito stepped off the beautiful Kawasaki ninja and waved. Natsuki rolled her eyes again, and then laid her eyes on the beautiful biker. Her heart began beating faster. _Stupid heart. Stupid tight biker suit. Stupid Shizuru. _"Hey, Kanzaki…," Natsuki muttered.

"Please, call me Reito!" Reito beamed at her as he approached. Shizuru's amused expression was hidden under a helmet.

"Yeah…no…I'll stick with calling you Kanzaki," Natsuki deadpanned. Mai and Shizuru both giggled this time...though Shizuru was an expert at hiding hers.

"Oh, er, alright then," Reito said scratching the back of his neck. "Listen," he said lowering his voice and getting all business. "I'm Shizuru's racing manager, and was wondering if you wanted a manager."

He handed Natsuki a card, which she promptly ripped and flung behind her. She pointed to her busty, red-headed friend who had stayed quiet during the last part. "Already got one."

"Ara Natsuki isn't very polite is she?" Shizuru said as she pulled off her helmet. She swung her head around, her beautiful chestnut hair was definitely happy to be out of the helmet.

Natsuki found herself staring again. She shook her head, _dammit. _"I'm fine with Mai," she said seriously. "Besides I think you have your hands full with booking races for the Kyoto Champion anyways," Natsuki said grabbing Mai's hand and shoving by Shizuru and Reito towards the race track.

Shizuru pouted as she watched Natsuki drag Mai away. _What's her problem?_ She turned a sympathetic smile on the now confused looking Reito. She gestured for him to follow her as she too made her way to the track.

Natsuki placed her helmet on her head and pointed to where Mai should sit. She grumbled something under her breath and got onto her beautiful Ducati. Mai had no comlaints about sitting down and watching Natsuki all day. Who would?

"It's a beautiful bike," Shizuru said as she rolled her Kawasaki alongside the Ducati.

Natsuki couldn't help but smile under her helmet. She ran a hand down all the different readings and meters then down the seat. "It is," she agreed.

"Just like it's rider," Shizuru said quietly, a sincere smile on her face.

Natsuki snapped her head up, a blush forming on her cheeks. "Uh, thanks." She revved her engine. "You wanna teach me how you dipped so slow that first race?" Natsuki tried to keep the near-begging out of her voice.

Shizuru put on her classic thinking-pose, a finger on her chin as she stared up at the sky. "I suppose I could teach you…but why would I teach my competition something like that? It would give them an advantage would it not?" _Not like you don't have an advantage over me already…just by being you Natsuki._

Natsuki frowned. "Please? I…I've tried it today against Nao once. It almost cost me the race," Natsuki admitted as she looked down. It was true, she had tried the way Shizuru sunk so low to the road during one of her practice laps against Nao. She had lost control of her bike and nearly drove into the railing.

Shizuru sighed, _God this girl is adorable. It's really quite unfair. _"I'll teach you, under one condition."

Natsuki eyed the suspicious smile on Shizuru's lips. _I don't like the look of that. Well I do, but still…_, "What is the condition?"

"Mmm," Shizuru revved her own engine and looked down, which shocked Natsuki to no end. Shizuru was usually so confident yet _she _was the one looking down for once? Shizuru finally looked back up, their eyes locked. "After I teach you, I'm going to ask you a question…and you're free to say yes or no of course. But, if even for a _split _second you consider saying 'yes', then you _must _say yes."

Natsuki gave her a confused expression. "Come again?"

Shizuru giggled, then said more loudly. "At the end I will ask you a question. If the thought of saying 'yes' to the question passes through your mind even for just a second…you _have _to say yes. However, if your immediate thought is 'no', then feel free to say so and I'll let you go."

"Let me…?" Natsuki concentrated hard as she tried to think of whatever it was Shizuru could possibly ask her. _Let's see…it must be a yes or no question. 'Natsuki will you let me win tomorrow?' Nah…'Natsuki will you break rule number 3 for me?' that's more Shizuru's style. Well of course I'd say no to that. _"Deal," Natsuki said offering her gloved hand for a shake.

Shizuru smiled and shook. "Great."

* * *

After about the 24th time of trying to dip successfully, Natsuki finally got it. She leapt off her bike, and practically tackled Shizuru off of hers. "YES! Did you see that? We were racing and then _sliiide _I was inches from the ground! Did you _see _that?" Natsuki yelled excitedly as she wrapped her arms around Shizuru and began jumping up and down.

"Ara, Natsuki is much like an excited puppy," Shizuru said in a daze. Too much Natsuki affection, too fast. She was caught completely off guard.

Natsuki froze, realized she was holding and jumping around with Shizuru, and instantly leapt backwards. She was blushing like a fiend and looked in every direction except at Shizuru. "S-sorry I got a little over excited…it's been like, 24 tries," she mumbled.

Shizuru smiled. "Yes, you should try a few more times to make sure you got it."

Natsuki nodded and jumped back onto her bike. "Are you coming?"

"Yes yes," Shizuru sighed as she got onto her bike yet again. _This wolf has so much energy. _

* * *

"I think you've got it," Shizuru said through a yawn. It had gotten dark out, Reito and Mai had left some time ago…neither Natsuki nor Shizuru had noticed them leaving. Shizuru watching the grinning wolf as she took off her helmet. "You've done it correctly 6 times in a row. I think it's safe to say you've learned how to dip."

Natsuki smiled and leaned back against her Ducati. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand as she watched the amused, yet tired expression on Shizuru's face. "I'm sorry. I've kept you out late and we have a school day tomorrow, not to mention the race," Natsuki said as she panted a little.

Shizuru didn't mind at all, she seriously enjoyed watching Natsuki sweaty and panting. She held her breath when Natsuki lifted up her shirt to wipe her forehead again, revealing sexy abdominals. Shizuru eyed them, _Ara I hope I don't drool. _

"Okay," Natsuki said as she peeled off her jacket and flung it across her bike's seat. She turned back to Shizuru, "I'm ready for your question."

Shizuru _had _been having second thoughts whether to ask the question or not. But…the sweaty and exhausted Natsuki made her damn sure she was going to ask. "Well," she practically purred.

Natsuki swallowed hard as the Kyoto beauty took a few steps closer.

"Are you ready? You remember the rules?"

Natsuki nodded slowly.

"Can I kiss you?" Shizuru asked. She had never actually asked before, usually she just made a move for it when she 'felt the time was right'. She always felt the time was right with Natsuki, which was why she had to be cautious. The shocked expression on Natsuki's face made her heart beat faster.

_Huh? What? Yes! I MEAN NO. NO NO NO. Fuck I thought yes. _Natsuki winced. _What's wrong with me?_

Shizuru tilted her head. "Did you think 'yes'? Even if it was for a split second."

Natsuki swallowed again. "Would you be able to tell if I were lying?" Shizuru nodded, a smile dancing on her lips. "Then yes…for like, .00003 seconds." _Wait does that make sense? I hate sticking to deals. _

Shizuru nodded. "Are you sure? I don't want to force you." _Okay I kind of do._

Natsuki frowned. Should she say 'never mind see you tomorrow?' That wouldn't be fair, and Natsuki was _all _about the fair. This had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Natsuki really liked Shizuru's lips or anything..cough.. "I agreed to the deal…but that's the _only _reason why! So, uh, don't get any ideas or anything," Natsuki stammered, fists clenching.

Shizuru shrugged, glided over to Natsuki, and lifted her chin up. Crimson orbs locked onto emerald ones. Shizuru lowered her lips slowly, Natsuki (who was panicking) slightly lowered her eyelids in anticipation, her fists unclenched. There was a light peck on her lips as the older girl's lips gently pressed themselves against her own. And it was over. Natsuki nearly fell over as Shizuru dropped her chin and turned around, getting back on her Kawasaki in five seconds flat.

Natsuki blinked. "T-that was it?" She blurted out. She instantly clamped her hands over her mouth, her eyes widened. _Oh please god, I didn't say that out loud. I DID NOT say that out loud._

Shizuru gave Natsuki and amused glance as she placed her helmet onto her head. "Yes that was all, were you hoping for more?"

"N-no! I uh…see you tomorrow at school," Natsuki sighed. _Pathetic. _

Shizuru watched Natsuki leap onto her bike and speed off, an amused glimmer in her eyes. _I don't want to cross the line again, Natsuki. But trust me, that little peck is only a taste of what I'd want to give you._

* * *

Natsuki slammed her apartment door closed and strode straight into her bedroom. She collapsed onto her bed and pulled a pillow into a hug. Her heart pounded the entire way home.

_What's wrong with me?_

With that thought replaying through her mind, she slowly (very slowly) drifted off to sleep.

When she was sure Natsuki was asleep, Tomoe stepped from the shadowed corner of Natsuki's bedroom eyeing her prey with a predator-like gleam.

* * *

**Okay. So, this chapter was sort of…boring I thought. Please don't hate me! It was a total filler chapter before the big rematch day. I'm not sure how many chapters are left, and I hope I mended some of the damage I may have done in my last chapter (though I know many of you probably have no idea what damage I'm talking about haha). **

**Next, Chapter 8: Tomoe goes batshit insane (again), and Shizuru notices her favorite fellow student isn't in school the day of the rematch…strange.**

**And can someone explain to me what qualifies as M rated? I don't know if my next fic should be M or not haha. **

P.S

Who do you think will win the race tomorrow? Shizuru or Natsuki? (assuming Tomoe doesn't get away with her bad self) oh and I completely made up the "Dip" i have no idea if that's a real bike manuever or not haha


	8. The Rule

**Hm, well it's been a while huh?**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing. Sunrise does. Blah dee blah. Honestly, if I owned Shiznat there would be so many awesome animes coming out.**

**I just finished the 14****th**** chapter of **_**Monster**_** (actually I really wrote half of this chapter after posting chapter 11 of **_**Monster)**_**, and I have some time and decided…hey why not update this baby for once? Besides I sort of need a break from such serious writing. This fic is a lot more light-hearted. Oh, and shorter, which is easier to update I think. Also, sorry if Natsuki pisses you off in this…she's completely different here than her **_**Monster **_**version so don't expect them to be similar.**

**Of course, for a few scenes of this chapter you're going to be like "What is this, a sesame-street version of **_**Monster**_**? I thought this was NFFTC?" And I will laugh at you! Mwhahaha. Okay, sorry. Enjoy! Or attempt to haha. Thanks for being so patient!  
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* * *

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Natsuki's eyes fluttered open. She didn't remember being on the floor when she went to sleep last night. In fact, she didn't remember being bound and gagged either. Natsuki blinked and looked around the room. Empty. _What the freakin' hell? _

"Oh, good, you're awake," Tomoe said as she came through the doorway.

Natsuki's eyes widened. Was that a joke? Tomoe…just what in the hell was going on? Natsuki asked something similar to that in fact but it was muffled by the gag in her mouth, which, by the way, was rather uncomfortable.

Tomoe snorted and shook her head. "What she sees in you, I'll never know," Tomoe said as she watched the midnight beauty's eyes glare up at her. A small mischievous smile tugged at Tomoe's lips as she knelt down. "What's that? You seem to have something in your mouth…" Tomoe gave the scarf-like thing tied around Natsuki's mouth a little tug, causing the other girl to growl in response. "Easy, girl. Don't bite."

Natsuki watched as Tomoe stood back up. Who had been 'she'? And then Natsuki remembered Tomoe's weird comment about Shizuru being her girlfriend. How long had Tomoe been a closet psycho? Something in the back of Natsuki's mind yelled, _"CREEPY STALKER BINDER" _but she ignored it. Instead she watched helplessly as Tomoe waved bye and locked her inside her own bedroom. _God fucking damn it._

Natsuki let out a frustrated growl and tried wiggling out of her binds. The rope around her legs wouldn't come off without help from her hands, which at the moment were tied as well. Natsuki mentally cursed. What the fucking hell? Really, Tomoe? _Really? _

And why? For Shizuru? Natsuki immediately realized Tomoe was creepy binder-owner. She must've been the one spying on Shizuru. _Well that's just effing creeptastic. _Natsuki thought as she gave up and banged her head backwards against her wall in defeat.

* * *

Shizuru sighed and took a sip of her tea. It was passion tea. She giggled into it, wondering why the thought of 'passion' tea had made her giggle suddenly. She looked up to see amethyst eyes watching her curiously.

"Ara, is there something you need, Haruka?" Shizuru asked sweetly, tilting her head as she watched annoyance flicker briefly in Haruka's eyes.

"Actually there is," Haruka said walking over to Shizuru's desk. She shoved papers in Shizuru's direction. "Will you go over this and find out where each of the missing students are?"

Shizuru frowned slightly and looked down at the list. "These student's parents haven't called in to confirm they are home sick?" She asked as she flipped through the annoyingly long sheet. Yeah hells to the no would she be doing this work. Time to work some Shizuru magic on Haruka.

Haruka nodded and slammed a fist on Shizuru's desk. Shizuru, being the only one in the room not to jump 2 feet in the air, looked up at Haruka curiously as the blonde bellowed. "They're cutting! I know it!"

Shizuru lifted a slender brow in the crazy blonde's direction then glanced back down at the papers. She instantly regretted asking if Haruka needed anything. She may be president but she wasn't very good at it.

"Well?" Haruka asked looking down expectantly.

Shizuru looked up. "Ara…well what?"

Haruka sighed and grabbed the phone off the hook. She handed it to Shizuru. "Work your magic, miss president," Haruka said with an undertone of hostility.

Shizuru frowned. She didn't want to actually _work. _After a few more attempts at tricking Haruka into doing it, Shizuru gave in and took the list. Her finger trailed down the paper to the first name. She looked at the number and called. She got the answering machine. She sighed, jotted that down as a cut, and then moved on to the next name on the list.

"Hello?"

"Hello is this Yoshiro-san?"

"Y-Yes…?"

"This is Shizuru Fujino, the student council president," Shizuru said as she stared out the window, bored out of her mind. She looked out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of a certain ice beauty. She pouted when all she saw were boring people.

There was a gasp at the other end, some giggling, and some muttered 'so hot!' and 'OMG OMG.'

Shizuru pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it, eyebrow lifted. She brought it back to her ear. "Ara…hello?"

"Y-Yes! I mean…_hello," _Yoshiro said as seductively as he could.

Shizuru rolled her crimson eyes and asked calmly, "And why aren't you in school today, Yoshiro-san?"

There was a pause.

"Is _that _why you're calling me?" He asked, voice thick with disappointment.

Shizuru blinked. She really should have tried harder to make Haruka handle this. "…Yes?"

Click.

Shizuru glared at her phone as the line went dead. She scribbled a big red 'CUT' next to Yoshiro's name on the list.

Shizuru turned back to the list and blinked again. Today was full of surprises wasn't it? Natsuki? Natsuki wasn't in school? Shizuru's eyebrows furrowed as she re-read that name. Hadn't Natsuki said 'See you tomorrow at school'? Shizuru pondered this for a second. The Kyoto beauty leaned back in her chair and placed a finger to her chin as she gave the ceiling a thoughtful look.

Yes. Natsuki had indeed said she would see Shizuru the next day, which technically was today. Shizuru stared puzzled at the list of names absentees again. It _was _the day of the rematch. Maybe Natsuki was just getting nervous and decided to sleep in. Shizuru smiled at the thought, Natsuki was actually a very lazy girl.

"What are you smiling at, Bubuzuke?" Haruka barked from across the room.

Shizuru looked up and smiled sweetly at Haruka. "Nothing, Haruka-san. I hope you're trying your best," she said in her sweet Kyoto-Ben.

Haruka grumbled something under her breath. The only words Shizuru caught were 'damn' and 'tea-drinkers.' The Kyoto-born giggled, there were only a few things more fun than irritating Haruka. And that brought her to her next action…

Shizuru picked up the phone again and dialed Natsuki's home number. She had memorized it of course, but with Haruka glaring at her she pretended to look at the list back and forth, just to make 'sure' she had dialed it correctly.

* * *

Natsuki's head lifted off the wall when she heard her phone ringing. It wasn't her cell phone, it was her home phone. The only one she owned was in the kitchen, and besides, if she could somehow get to it, it would be a little hard to declare Tomoe a psycho with a bandana-type cloth tied around her mouth. This was probably even a little stupid, but Natsuki wondered if it was that same annoying tele-marketer that seemed to enjoy harassing her. He was the only one to actually call her home phone. She wondered why she even still kept it around…everyone that was worth talking to had her cell number.

Tomoe opened the door to Natsuki's room holding the ringing phone in her hand. She wiggled it and smiled at Natsuki as she approached.

Natsuki blinked. Tomoe was still in the apartment? She figured the psycho left hours ago. What the _hell _had she been doing all this time? Natsuki sat quietly, eyebrow lifted, as Tomoe brought the ringing phone over. Tomoe tugged the gag out of Natsuki's mouth.

"What the _hell _you effing _psychotic _bit—!"

Tomoe clicked 'talk' on the phone and held it up to Natsuki's face. Tomoe couldn't help but snort at how quiet Natsuki was. The green-haired girl reached into her pocket and pulled out two things. Both were pictures though she couldn't see the one of the right. The one on her left was a picture of Tomoe…and Natsuki's precious Ducati…Tomoe was holding what looked to be a sledgehammer.

Natsuki glared at Tomoe then said tentatively. "H-Hello?"

"Natsuki?" It was Shizuru.

Natsuki let out a sigh of relief. "Hey Shizuru, so your stalk—"

Tomoe waved the picture in Natsuki's face again. _"You finish that sentence and I hammer your Ducati beyond repair," _Tomoe hissed.

Natsuki frowned and cleared her throat. "What's up?"

Shizuru, who was staring at her phone confused, brought it back to her ear. "Ara…Natsuki are you alright?"

Natsuki opened her mouth, clearly about to say something sarcastic, but then she caught sight of the picture and sighed. "I'm fine. Why?" Natsuki tried rather hard to keep her voice sounding calm and level. She didn't want Tomoe to think she was hinting to Shizuru that SOMETHING WAS WRONG. If Tomoe figured that out…well, Natsuki could kiss her beautiful bike goodbye.

"You didn't show up to school today," Shizuru said uneasily. She had a feeling Natsuki was acting _too _calm. Natsuki's voice was normal and yet… "And I was worried," Shizuru added.

Natsuki blushed and averted her eyes from Tomoe's scrutinizing gaze. The psycho did _not _look happy. She was right next to Natsuki, holding up the picture still with the motorbike and the sledge hammer…so she could hear what Shizuru was saying.

"A-Ah," Natsuki said quickly as Tomoe nearly slammed the photo into her face. "It's okay, I just forgot to call in I guess." _If she sledge-hammers my bike I will sledge-hammer her skull. _

Shizuru frowned from the other end of the line, not convinced. "Alright," Shizuru said after a while. "Are you…are you nervous about tonight?" Shizuru asked.

Natsuki didn't need Tomoe to wave a photo in her hand to answer that. She scoffed, "No. Why, are you?" Natsuki smiled and turned away from the photo, much to Tomoe's annoyance. They were actually having a conversation?

_LOOK AT THE PICTURE KUGA I CAN WRECK YOUR BIKE. LOOK SCARED. _Tomoe growled, it looked like Natsuki was actually having a conversation with Shizuru and no longer caring about her current predicament.

"Ara, I am never nervous about a race," Shizuru calmly replied in her sexy Kyoto-ben.

"Uh-huh I bet," Natsuki said into the phone sarcastically, still refusing to look at a pissed of Tomoe. Of course she did sort of believe that Shizuru never got nervous before a race, but she really wanted to keep Shizuru on the line as long as she could. Maybe Shizuru would get the hint somehow…

Tomoe made a quick circular motion with her fingers. Wrap it up, Kuga!

Natsuki glared at Tomoe and sighed into the phone. "Well is that all, _Shizuru?_" The way Natsuki said the president's name earned her a whack over the head from Tomoe. Whether it was because Tomoe did not like the way Natsuki said her beloved's name or because she thought Natsuki was trying to hint at her current situation, Natsuki wasn't sure. It was probably a mixture of both.

Shizuru was silent on the other end for a second then, "That's all, _Natsuki. _I'll see you tonight?"

Natsuki looked at Tomoe, who looked unsure of what to say to that. "Uh, if I'm lucky," Natsuki said after a minute, since Tomoe hadn't told her what to say.

Shizuru blinked at her phone as the line went dead.

"What the hell, Kuga!" Tomoe growled as she snapped Natsuki's house phone in two.

Natsuki blinked. "Hey, how did you do tha—" _I mean that had been a pretty sturdy looking phone…_

"You should've said YES!" Tomoe yelled as she flung the pieces of the poor house phone over her shoulder and stood up, glaring down at a confused looking Natsuki.

"You didn't tell me to say yes," Natsuki pointed out bluntly. "And why exactly are you doing this if you want me to make the race? I really don't understand why you're being such a damn _psycho."_

Tomoe quickly slapped Natsuki's cheek and growled, "I am not a psycho! I am in _love. _You wouldn't understand though, would you? Who do _you _love Kuga Natsuki? Do you even know how?"

Natsuki stared blankly up at Tomoe's intense gray glare, one emerald eye wincing as the cheek below it burned from the slap. _Uh. _Natsuki's semi-dense mind tried processing this. She figured Tomoe had a thing for Shizuru but this was taking obsession to a whole new level. _Oh right, I forgot about the shower pictures…and the closet pictures…_Natsuki blushed and looked away. _Shower pictures…_

Tomoe blinked. Why the _hell _was Kuga blushing?! "Did you hear me?!"

Natsuki yawned and looked up. She'd heard this stupid 'love' thing before, and frankly? She was sick of it. Why couldn't people just accept that love didn't exist. It was all chemicals and hormones…wasn't it? Natsuki remembered the quick peck on the lips the day before and how that had made her feel. She groaned out loud. Her heart hadn't slowed down after that until she had fallen asleep. Maybe that's what….no way.

"Why don't you just let me go? Shizuru is all yours," Natsuki said with a smile. "I don't want her." Of course that was an utter _lie, _but Natsuki was denying that and Tomoe saw right through it.

"Oh yeah?" Tomoe asked, a wicked smiled coming to her face. She reached down and grabbed the second photo she hadn't shown to Natsuki. "Like it?"

Natsuki looked at it and instantly looked away, face darkening and eyes narrowing. "I don't care."

Tomoe smirked. "Aw, you look all sad…like a kicked puppy."

"Shut up!" Natsuki growled, snapping her head back up to glare at Tomoe.

"You're not going to ask how she was?" Tomoe waved the picture around. It was, of course, of Tomoe and Shizuru locking lips rather passionately…though only one of them knew that there was no passion there at all.

Natsuki snorted. "We've kissed already. I know how she _is." Hah, take that. Buuuurn._

That comment earned Natsuki another slap, but this time Natsuki just barked out laughter, much to Tomoe's annoyance.

"What's so damn funny?"

"Well," Natsuki began, bringing her eyes up to meet Tomoe's gray ones. "You're holding me hostage because you don't want me to get to the race right? So tonight Shizuru will be looking for me. You hear that?" Natsuki smirked. "Looking for _me. _Wondering where _I _am because I'm the one that's racing her remember? And she'll come here. To look for _me. _And she'll hate your guts even more than she probably does now." Natsuki didn't mean to sound so cruel but…really…she was tied up in her own home being shown horrifying pictures. She was allowed to get a little mean.

"I mean," Natsuki continued. "What the _hell _do you plan on accomplishing by doing this?"

Tomoe gave Natsuki death glares. "Well, you see," Tomoe said in an attempt at a calm voice. It just made her sound really creepy though. Creepier than usual anyways. "You don't show up to the match…know what that means?"

"If one racer doesn't show up the other racer wins—" Natsuki paused. She then grimaced. "SHIT."

"And if Shizuru wins because _you _don't show up. You lose _everything. _And I gain _everything. _Including a thankful Shizuru. Besides, she loves me." Tomoe held up the pictures and pointed to them. "See?"

Natsuki frowned and looked away. "That's a dumb plan. You're the worst villain _ever. _I'll just call for a rematch…" Of course Natsuki knew it didn't work like that. You miss a race, you lose. She'd lose her title to Shizuru. Natsuki was partly annoyed that this rule was _her _fault. She had made the rule once she beat Nao for the title. It had always annoyed her when she'd get challenges and they would never show up then demand a rematch and again, _never _show up. She had finally said, if you don't show up then you automatically lose.

Natsuki Kuga's words were then made into underground illegal bike racing Law.

No one challenged her unless they were really up to the challenge and weren't going to chicken out. It had been a great rule…until now.

_Fuck. If I don't show up I lose my title…and I can't go against my own damn rule! _Natsuki mentally growled. _Besides what the hell is Tomoe talking about? Shizuru doesn't love HER! Shizuru loves m—um…..what the freakin hell is wrong with you, Kuga! Who cares who Shizuru loves, Tomoe is just nuts! And I need to get out of here…and I need to get to that race…_

Tomoe grinned as she looked at the Fuuka champion. Internal struggle was written all over her face. "You sit there and think about that _all _night and I'll go help Shizuru set up her tent and…maybe some other things," Tomoe said with a wink.

It was positively irritating. That tone. Natsuki glared up at her. "You're weird," Natsuki said deadpan after a moment of intense gazing.

Tomoe blinked…and then her eyebrow twitched. "WHAT?" She knelt down and gagged Natsuki again. "Now you can shut up."

Tomoe stood up, smiling down at the now growling Natsuki (who had almost bit her when she put back on the gag). She patted a still growling Natsuki on the head and walked out of the room. There was a 'click' as she locked the door from the outside.

Natsuki stared at the door and sighed. She. Was. Screwed. Tied up and locked in, there was no way she could get out or get help. She could only pray someone came to look for her.

* * *

Shizuru looked out the window solemnly. She had finally finished off that gigantic list and was now scanning the school grounds with her eyes. She knew she wouldn't find the raven haired girl but she couldn't stop herself from looking anyways.

It had been weird. Natsuki on the phone, that is. Shizuru had no idea why she felt that way but…she did.

And _damn _she wished Natsuki had come to school today! Shizuru sighed, her breath fogging up the window. She giggled and drew a little doggy with her finger before smiling at her handy-work and going to get ready for the race.

--

Shizuru watched as her tent was finished being set up. She ran a hand down the seat of her Kawasaki and smiled at it in admiration. She hadn't seen Natsuki yet, but Mai and Nao had already set up the Kuga Squad tent.

"Shizuru…"

Shizuru turned around. She lifted a slender brow. "Tomoe…?"

"Here," Tomoe handed Shizuru a can. "It's just soda…" Tomoe grumbled as she held out her hand, waiting for Shizuru to take it.

Shizuru blinked at it. "Tomoe if there's…"

"There's no sleeping drugs or anything in there!" Tomoe yelled. "I want to make it up to you."

Shizuru held up a hand to her mouth as she giggled like some type of noblewoman. It was a strange sight since she was in her racing leathers which, by the way, _hot damn. _Tight leather and nobility just didn't seem to mesh correctly. Well, if anyone could pull it off, it would be Shizuru.

Still, Shizuru took the can and took a sip, crimson eyes watching Tomoe the whole time. Tomoe blushed a deep red color and looked away. Shizuru giggled again and placed the can down. "Thank you, Tomoe. Have you seen Natsuki by any chance?"

Tomoe smiled ever so sweetly. "No ,I have not."

Shizuru pouted and checked her cell phone to see if she got any calls. Nope. Nada. The Kyoto-beauty began approaching Mai and Nao, who looked like they were arguing about something.

"NO, she'll be here!" Nao said, folding her arms and glaring at the other red head.

Mai glared. "Maybe she chickened out, or maybe she really likes Kaich—"

Nao snorted and looked away. When she saw Shizuru standing there watching them she tilted her head and grinned. "Can we help you?"

Shizuru nodded. "Ara, yes you can…where is Natsuki? The race is in 40 minutes and she's not here yet."

Nao and Mai exchanged looks. Mai chimed in, "We don't…we don't know. She hasn't picked up her cell phone and when we try her home number we just get the answering machine…"

Shizuru frowned. Well. Crap. Natsuki was always here early. She said on the phone they'd see each other tonight…so where was she? _Hm. Wait no, she said 'If I'm lucky' hadn't she? What had that meant? _Shizuru suddenly began to suspect foul play.

Nao scratched her chin. "I'll go look for her at her apartment. She wouldn't _not_ show up…she knows the rules." Nao reached for her helmet. "Hell, she _made _the rule…"

Shizuru smiled slightly. She didn't want to win if Natsuki wasn't going to be there but…it would be nice to have that title…since that _is _technically what she moved to Fuuka for anyways. But no, this wasn't—she _had_ to race Natsuki. Natsuki was now more important to her than the title. Mostly.

Shizuru frowned. Which _was _more important? She had been racing all her life and then she meets a girl and goes ga-ga? Shizuru sighed. She hadn't even known Natsuki all that long so maybe she should just take the title and disappear.

_Ara, ara, listen to me getting all mean. I do care for Natsuki. Is it love? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's a feeling that I want to figure out. I do want the title, yes, but in a fair race._

"Ara, Nao!" Shizuru called after the redhead who was mounting her bike.

Nao got comfortable and looked up. She frowned. "What do you want?"_ And why on Earth would I help you?_

Shizuru smiled pleasantly. "I'll accompany you. I don't want to be here if Natsuki isn't here. It would be unfair to her."

Nao blinked and canted her head to the side. "You _do _know that it's her own rule right? Technically, she'd expect you to stay and claim the title."

Shizuru nodded. "I want to make sure Natsuki is safe. She's more important than a title." _Besides, after I find out where Natsuki is, we can race and I can get the title THEN. _

Nao lifted a brow then shook her head and placed her red helmet on. "Whatever you say, Fujino. Get on your bike and follow."

Shizuru smirked. "I do believe it will be you who is following me," Shizuru said playfully and she began walking calmly back to her own tent.

Nao just scoffed and flipped her visor down.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Tomoe asked when Shizuru mounted her bike. Her tone was quite alarmed and caused Shizuru to give her a suspicious look.

"Ara, ara is Tomoe worried about me?"

"The race is in 30 minutes…you can't leave!"

Shizuru tilted her head. "And why's that?"

"Because if you leave you won't win the title!" Tomoe answered, now a little annoyed at the look Shizuru was giving her, as if she were a child or something.

Shizuru looked up towards the sky thoughtfully and tapped her chin. "Mm, Tomoe seems to be making assumptions. Natsuki may win and keep her title."

"Kuga's not gonna show," Tomoe said instantly.

Silence.

_Wait…FUCK._

Shizuru brought her gaze back down and locked eyes with Tomoe. Tomoe quaked and reached for her bike for support. That gaze was _scary _as hell. Shizuru's wine-red eyes were intense, her face dark and still. Too still.

"Ara, ara, Tomoe seems so sure…" Shizuru said quietly, her voice creepily calm. It did _not _match her aura of fury, nope, not at all.

"I-I'm not! I just…well she's always here early isn't she? So if she's not here by now the chances of her showing up…" Tomoe paused when Shizuru placed her helmet on. "Sh-Shizuru?"

"I do hope, for your sake, dear Tomoe, that when I find Natsuki she will have nothing to say about you." Shizuru's crimson eyes disappeared as she flicked her visor down. "If I'm not back with Natsuki in 30 minutes tell them the race is off and will be set up for another day." _Again…_

"B-but…but what if this is all Natsuki's plan? You'll leave, she'll show up as soon as you're gone, and she wins the title. Come on," Tomoe said with a small, quivering smile, "she knows how you are. She's probably planning on using her own tricks against you."

Shizuru revved the engine and looked towards Nao who looked positively annoyed and impatient. The Kyoto-racer turned back to Tomoe. "Natsuki is a fair, gallant girl. She would never resort to trickery." _Like I would. _

Tomoe slipped onto her own bike. "I see…" she whispered, her voice now icy cold and just as creepy as Shizuru's.

Shizuru watched Tomoe suspiciously from behind the visor. Why was Tomoe getting on her bike too? And why on Earth wasn't she quaking with fear anymore? Shizuru felt all her intensity and anger towards Tomoe dissipate into pure confusion. _I do not like that look on that girl's face. _

Tomoe slipped on her green helmet and winked at Shizuru before flipping her visor down and speeding off.

Shizuru blinked and instantly looked at Nao, who also watched Tomoe speed off before turning to look at Shizuru. There was an unspoken of message sent between the two, surprising not because they were definitely far away from each other, but because they couldn't even see each other's eyes from under their visors.

They both kicked up their kickstands and sped off after the teal-haired freak. A blur of purple, red, and green could be seen disappearing in the distance.

Mai face-palmed. "Damn racers. So damn dramatic and idiotic."

"What's going on?" Chie asked, silver helmet under her arm. Her gray eyes watched the disappearing blobs and she realized how fast they must be going for her to be able to _still _hear their engines from that distance.

Mai let out an exasperated sigh. "No clue. Nao and Fujino-san chased after, I think, Tomoe. You think she has something to do with Natsuki's disappearance?" Mai asked, obviously curious about Chie's thoughts.

Chie frowned, scratched her chin, and then just shrugged. "Beats me. I wasn't even aware Natsuki was missing." She gave Mai a dazzling grin.

Mai did another face-palm. "Racers…"

* * *

Shizuru was right on Tomoe's tail. Nao was behind them but she was catching up as well. What the _hell _was this girl planning? And what did she think she'd accomplish by getting to Natsuki's house before they did? This settles it. Once Shizuru makes sure Natsuki is okay she's going to get Tomoe sent to PRISON or something! This all depends if Tomoe does have anything to do with this but at this point Shizuru was pretty sure. The girl _did _speed off randomly…in the direction of Natsuki's house.

Nao sped up so that she and Shizuru were side-by-side. She didn't want to get too close though, her bike had been acting weirdly and the control was a little off. She made a hand gesture to Shizuru, who nodded back and slowed down. Nao sped up and took over Shizuru's position, then sped up even _more. _

Shizuru watched in anticipation as Nao moved her wheel so that it was ridiculously close to Tomoe's back wheel. This could really be bad if Nao screwed up. Shizuru did a mental prayer and turned a little to the right so she wasn't directly behind Nao if the redhead managed to screw up and get flung backwards.

From where she was, Shizuru could see Nao only had one hand on the handles. At this speed? Was she crazy? Nao's hand found the handle again and Shizuru let out a breath she hadn't know she was holding. What exactly was Nao up to anyways? It clearly wasn't what Shizuru had thought it was at first.

Before Nao could do anything…

Tomoe smiled. Ah, this is why she had worked 3 jobs back in Kyoto. She glanced down, her gloved thumb of her right hand lightly pressing against a small square green button. _It's been fun. I'll see you soon, my love. _Tomoe whispered in her head before pressing down on the green button.

Her bike growled in a _very _not-okay way. Shizuru watched as Nao nearly fell forward over the front of her bike as she slowed down way too fast, probably from the fear of whatever that noise was. Shizuru sped up and gave Nao a slight nod. Nao managed to steady her bike and shook her head at Shizuru. Shizuru blinked then watched as Nao pointed a gloved hand in front. Shizuru followed the direction of Nao's finger and blinked. Tomoe's back lights were the only thing visible. Barely.

What the _hell _had she put into her bike?

Shizuru and Nao both mentally growled in frustration. Fucking cheater.

* * *

Natsuki stared up at her ceiling. She hadn't moved this whole time. _Who knew I had 564 tiles in my ceiling? Or exactly 4 pieces of furniture in my room? Well, 5 if you count the bookshelf. This sure is fun…_

There was a slam of a door and then the sound of stomping and jingling keys. Natsuki blinked as the doorknob turned. Was she about to be rescued or had Tomoe came back for some reason? Shouldn't she be at the race? It starts in ten minutes.

Tomoe walked in the door carrying a sledge hammer. She looked maybe a _tad _impatient and rushed.

Natsuki let out hysterical laughter, which was muffled by the gag. "'Er 'iddin' mite?" (_You're kidding right?)_She practically fell over.

Tomoe sneered, "No, I'm not kidding. Your bike is going to be trashed, but I need you to come with me right now." Tomoe bent down next to Natsuki and grabbed the biker by the arm. She stood up, bringing Natsuki with her. "Seriously, if you fight I will use this hammer thing on _you _instead of your precious Ducati."

Natsuki grunted. What exactly was going on? Her feet were tied so technically she was hopping after Tomoe. She was sure had this been any other circumstance with any other people she would've been laughing hysterically at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. Midori certainly would pull something like this…

Tomoe pulled her towards the door and through the house until they reached Natsuki's garage. Tomoe's bike was parked next to Natsuki's. Natsuki stared at Tomoe's green bike. The thing looked like Tomoe had killed it from the inside out. What the hell had she put in it? _It's smoking for god's sake!_

Tomoe scowled when she saw the condition of her bike. "Damn it. Looks like we'll be taking yours. Get on."

Natsuki was shoved onto the back of her Ducati and frowned. Sitting sideways on a bike wasn't the smartest way to go. Her ankles and wrists were tied together as well…meaning she had no way of holding on for dear life and no way of staying ON the bike. Tomoe seemed to notice this fact and sighed. She didn't want Natsuki _dying. _Well okay, she did, but she wasn't _that _mental. _Ugh I guess I can let her have her feet to stay on the bike. She can sit in front though so I can keep her wrists tied. _

She walked over and pulled some metal clippers off the wall, replacing her sledge hammer in favor for this new tool. What Natsuki had those for she didn't know, nor did she care. Maybe the girl had some kind of gardening hobby. Tomoe knelt down next to Natsuki's feet and snipped the ropes off.

Instantly she got kicked in the face.

Tomoe fell backwards onto the floor and howled in pain. "WHAT THE HELL?!" She yelled as she sat up and held her now bleeding nose. She blinked when she saw a very not-so-happy Natsuki now standing next to the Ducati. Natsuki smirked, bent down, and slipped her feet through the circle of her hands, slipping them over her butt so that her tied wrists were in the front. She pulled off her gag as Tomoe began standing again.

"Are you insane?" Natsuki growled as she dropped the cloth to the floor. "Clip off my wrist ties with those giant metal scissor things now or I swear to god, Tomoe, I will kick your ass." Natsuki paused and held out her wrists for Tomoe to cut off the binds. Natsuki wasn't sure if she _would _but she figured she'd ask.

Tomoe wiped even more blood from her nose and wiped it on her shirt in disgust. The psycho realized that her little 'trick' really only have her a five minute head start on Shizuru and Nao, they should be arriving any minute now. _Shit. _She had to get Natsuki away from here now or Shizuru will see!

Tomoe pounced on the patiently waiting Natsuki and the two fell to the concrete floor of the garage. Natsuki managed to knee Tomoe in the stomach, causing the girl to roll off and whimper. _Honestly, does she even know what I do for exercise? It's called kick-boxing, idiot. _

Tomoe growled and managed to get to her feet. Natsuki had a tad bit more trouble with that, considering her hands were tied and she was on her back. By the time she stood up Tomoe was cracking her knuckles and smiling devilishly, blood still pouring from her nose. It was almost comical and Natsuki would've made a joke about causing Tomoe to nosebleed had the freak not chosen that moment to start slowly walking towards her, a creepy smile on her face. Natsuki got ready to kick the girl in the gut if need be, though she seriously wished her hands were untied so she could punch her face in. Tomoe gave her a creepy grin, slowly closing the gap between them.

"Ara, so you found Natsuki then, Tomoe?"

* * *

**Lol. That's really all I can say at this. I mean I just feel kind of stupid updating this with a chapter semi-similar to a chapter I wrote for **_**Monster (13)**_**, but obviously nowhere near as serious, dark, or angsty. Whatever. Tied up Natsuki is **_**hot. **_**Hah, I keed. Kind of. Natsuki is always hot. Haha I actually kind of enjoyed writing her mini-parts for this chapter. She's sooo bored being tied up whereas in **_**Monster **_**(my other fic for those of you that don't know) she was doing all this bad ass breaking through windows and racing through thunderstorms. Well, they are completely different stories. I enjoy writing this one because it's so much more light-hearted compared to the other. It's like a little break from dark drama. (Though, okay, this chapter was maybe a little dramatic haha) I'm sorry if it seems a little TOO not serious. But honestly, I wasn't in the mood for a huge fight scene and blah blah. *Shrugs***

**Are there plot holes in this? Maybe. I apologize…had a super trippy dream so I'm a little out of it lol.**

**I'm updating this because, well, I had half of this written for a while but since I'm waiting to hear from my beta (Andrea, who rocks!) about the 14****th**** chapter for **_**Monster**_** I decided to just finish this and update. **

**Not exactly sure what Tomoe put in her bike, not even sure if something like that exists, not really sure it matters. Yeah that's all. Hope you enjoyed this long overdue update? Please no flames T_T so not in the mood. **

**So right, thanks as usual for reading…especially those who waited so patiently for this. **

**-Shayp**

**P.S**

**Please don't tell me to hurry up and update **_**Monster**_**. Half of my reviews for that story tell me to do that anyways lol. I write **_**Monster **_**as fast as I can and by you commenting on THIS fic telling me to update **_**Monster**_**, well, that would just be pointless =]**


	9. Well, Damn it

**Chapter 9: Well, Damn it.**

**Comin' to you live from Maui, Hawaii! Woo. It's nice here. Supa nice.**

**Enjoy…?**

**

* * *

**

"Ara, so you found Natsuki then, Tomoe?" Shizuru's Kyoto-ben floated from the door Tomoe and Natsuki had first came through to get into the garage.

Tomoe stopped dead in her tracks. Blood was still pouring down her nose as she locked eyes with Natsuki. Fierce emeralds met her stormy gray eyes…but only for a second before Natsuki looked _passed _her to a beautiful Kyoto goddess. Natsuki's ferocity disappeared and was replaced with relief. A grateful smile appeared on her lips as she eyed her savior. Her _really, really _good looking savior.

Tomoe decided to ignore Shizuru. She snarled and charged like a bull, then leapt toward the biker. Natsuki blinked as Tomoe flew through the air towards her, and so she simply took a step to the left. Her eyes followed Tomoe's flying form as the crazy girl flew passed Natsuki and crashed into a tall, metal rack full of motorcycle parts and tools. Tomoe lay motionless under the rack. No one much cared.

Nao, who had shown up from behind Shizuru, blinked. "Did Tomoe really just fly into--?"

Natsuki nodded as she eyed Tomoe's motionless body. "Yup, she did."

Nao paused, her eyebrows furrowing. "I thought so." That was a little anti-climatic. No fight scene? No vengeful Kyoto woman vs psycho green haired girl smack down? "Why did I bother coming here…?" Nao mumbled as she stepped passed Shizuru into the garage and folded her arms over her chest.

Forest green eyes glanced over at Nao and then instinctively found Shizuru's. Her eyes were beautiful. "Shizuru," Natsuki greeted with a smile. _I knew you'd come._

Crimson eyes sparkled with delight as the Kyoto champion stepped into the room and strode toward Natsuki. Instantly her arms wrapped around the younger girl and tugged her into a tight embrace. "Natsuki," Shizuru cooed into the girl's ear, "are you hurt?" Shizuru held Natsuki at arm's length and looked her up and down. While Natsuki's hair was a little messier than usual and her clothes looked like they had been on the floor, Natsuki generally looked healthy.

Natsuki shook her head but held up her bound wrists. "No, I'm fine. But would you mind cutting these things off?" She nodded to the ropes.

Shizuru frowned at the ties holding Natsuki's wrists together, but complied with the request and went to go get the strange metal clipper things Tomoe had used to cut the ankle bindings off before. "There," Shizuru said with a satisfied smile when the wrist bindings fell to the floor after a quick snip (and Natsuki's repetitive warnings to Shizuru to '_be damn careful with those things!')._

Natsuki rubbed at her newly freed wrists. The skin was slightly tender where the ropes had grinded against her flesh. She winced and blinked in surprise when Shizuru took one of her hands and opened it. Shizuru brought her lips to Natsuki's open palm and kissed the middle of it. The older girl pulled back, her crimson eyes twinkling with mischief as they examined Natsuki for the expected entertaining facial expression.

As predicted, Natsuki turned scarlet and averted her gaze. The tingly sensation moving up her arm was rather uncomfortable. Or was it comfortable? Natsuki wasn't sure, since she'd never felt anything like it before. Natsuki felt her slightly shaking hand released from Shizuru's slender fingers and looked up to see what stopped her. "Shizur—?"

"Natsuki!" Shizuru yelled as she tugged the shorter girl and flung her onto the floor by her collar.

"Oof!" Natsuki groaned when she thudded onto the garage floor. When she looked up, a sledge hammer sliced through the air right above her. Shizuru managed to jump back in time, and had Natsuki not been on the ground she would have probably had more crushed bones than ever before. That would've hurt. A lot. Thank God for Kyoto-woman reflexes.

The sledge hammer was heavy, and tugged Tomoe's body weight with it when it flew to the left. Tomoe nearly toppled to the ground, except Nao caught her from behind and grabbed the psycho's hands. She dug her nails into Tomoe's skin, causing Tomoe to release her grip on the handle of the hammer and let out a howl. The two struggled against each other.

Shizuru helped Natsuki up and watched as Nao shoved a delirious Tomoe onto the ground. Nao sat on Tomoe's upper back and made herself comfortable as she crossed her legs Indian style. She grinned happily down at a struggling Tomoe. "If you can get up I'll let you kick Natsuki's ass," Nao said down to her, knowing well that Tomoe didn't have a chance at getting up.

Her only response was a growl.

Shizuru sighed. "Tomoe, don't you think you've gone too far this time?" She elegantly strode to stand in front of Tomoe. Tomoe's eyes slowly lifted upwards, gray clashing with intense wine-red eyes.

"I love you," Tomoe said seriously.

Shizuru's eyebrow twitched only slightly before she plastered her creepy, yet pleasant smile on. "You don't, nor do I love you," Shizuru tried, her voice sounded firm and powerful, as if she were trying to hypnotize Tomoe so that she drilled that message into her brain.

Natsuki, (who didn't really care about Shizuru trying to convince Tomoe since she knew it would do nothing) glanced at her Ducati and smiled. "Oh, baby, you're alright…"

Shizuru looked towards Natsuki. "Of course I'm al—ara, ara…" Shizuru watched as Natsuki hugged the Ducati like it was…well…her _Ducati. _She pouted slightly. _Me vs the Ducati…_Shizuru entertained the thought of Natsuki having to choose between one. In Shizuru's mind she saw Natsuki pick the Ducati…and then gesture for Shizuru to get on as well. She smiled contently at the thought.

"Shizuru?"

Shizuru jolted out of her thoughts. She smiled politely and tilted her head ever so slightly. "Yes, my Natsuki?"

Natsuki coughed nervously and muttered, "Thanks…" Emeralds looked off to the side, avoiding the older girl's amused gaze.

A slender brow lifted in the ebony haired girl's direction. "For what?" She asked ever so sweetly. _Natsuki is so adorable it's unnatural..._

Natsuki made a vague hand gesture. "You know," she grumbled, "the knocking me to the ground thing so I didn't get sledge hammered?"

Nao beat Shizuru to a reply. "This is all very cute and sweet…makes me want to barf and stuff," the redhead said as she folded her arms. "But you two only have ten minutes to make it back to the race in time." The demon made an annoyed face and tapped her watch twice. A brow lifted expectantly in Natsuki's direction.

Shizuru and Natsuki both looked at each other in panic. "Quick!" Natsuki yelled as she found her helmet on the ground and put it on. "We can still make it," she assured as she moved to get onto her bike.

Shizuru had her bike out front and paused as she waited for the garage door to open fully. "Natsuki, your arm," Shizuru said as she looked back at Natsuki, the memory of the girl's injured arm coming back to her.

Natsuki moved it slightly and winced…luckily Shizuru couldn't see it from under her visor. "Feels fine," Natsuki lied. She felt slightly bad for lying to Shizuru, but she didn't want to make yet _another _date for the rematch. It was just annoying and she wanted to get it over with. _Please don't know I'm lying, please don't know I'm lying… _Natsuki mentally chanted as her eyes willed Shizuru to believe her.

Shizuru paused and gave Natsuki a searching look before nodding and exiting the garage. Something told her Natsuki was lying…but Natsuki wouldn't lie to her right? Not now, not when they were…friends. She got on her bike and turned it on. Nao, who was busy tying Tomoe up, waved at them to go on when they gave her a 'hurry up' look.

Natsuki nodded to Shizuru, who nodded back, and they sped off down the road.

* * *

The two pulled the bikes up at the starting line just in time. Shizuru and Natsuki both tried to calm their racing hearts. They weren't sure if it was because riding together was so exhilarating, or because they were both slightly panicky that they had missed the race. That wouldn't have been good, not at all.

"Where the hell have you been, Natsuki?" Mai asked as she came out of Natsuki's tent and stood in front of her friend, arms akimbo.

Natsuki pointed to Shizuru. "She has stalkers," she said simply. Mai lifted a brow in her direction. Natsuki sighed. "Stalkers that don't like me," she added to clarify.

Mai's eyes looked thoughtful for a second before she turned to Shizuru and asked, "Tomoe?"

Both the racers nodded.

Mai groaned and slapped her forehead. "I knew the girl was nuts, but kidnapping you?" Mai shook her head then walked so that she was standing slightly in front of the two racers. "Where is Nao?" she asked Shizuru.

The Kyoto woman smiled from under her helmet. "She's cleaning up the mess."

Mai pouted. "That means I have to read the rules?" She wasn't quite as good as Nao was at riling up a crowd, and she feared that if she tried to imitate Nao's charm she might get booed.

"Just get to it, Mai," Natsuki barked. "I've been locked in my room all day, tied up might I add. I need to ride." And she had no doubt this race would be one of the most beautiful she'd ever had. She was much too uptight and needed to unwind. She wasn't going to hold back no matter _what _she was feeling for the competition.

Mai glared at Natsuki. "Okay, bossy, geez." Mai cleared her throat and eyed the crowd that had gathered around them. "As you all know, this is our reigning champion of Fuuka and representing the Kuga Squad…Kuga Natsuki!" Half the crowd broke into hoots and cheers.

Natsuki tuned the rest out and glanced at Shizuru, who caught the head movement in her peripheral vision and also turned her head to face Natsuki.

"Yes?" Shizuru asked, her head tilting slightly.

Natsuki flipped up her visor, revealing dazzling emeralds. "Why…" she began, but stopped when she heard what Mai was saying. Her eyes shifted to Mai instead of Shizuru.

"The third rule is no falling for the competition—" Mai began.

Natsuki cleared her throat loudly, causing Mai to look at her and cut what she was saying short. "Uh," Natsuki started, "as the current Fuuka underground motorcycle racing champion, I now declare that rule invalid."

Shizuru blinked.

Mai blinked.

Hell, everyone blinked.

Natsuki flipped her visor back down and broke into a blush. "Er, let's get on with it then…" She mumbled. The dark haired beauty really didn't want to keep such a dumb rule around when she was so obviously breaking it. _Who came up with such a dumb rule anyways? _It certainly wasn't during her reign as Fuuka champion. Nao's then? _Well she didn't do a good job of not breaking it either if her kissing me was any clue._

Shizuru couldn't contain the wide smile that broke out on her face. Too bad she was hiding it under a helmet. _Ara, ara,_ _Natsuki does not like that rule anymore, mm?_ _I wonder what changed her mind…_ Shizuru pretended to wonder, as if she really didn't know. Her heart was soaring. There was no way she was going to lose this race.

Mai looked like a fish out of water before she snapped out of it and shook her head as if to clear the confusion away. "U-Um…" she stammered. "Where was I…?" _Natsuki soooo wants the student council president!_

"Ara, ara, I've forgotten to make a wager," Shizuru said in her faux surprised Kyoto-ben.

Natsuki groaned. Her body felt like electricity. She was pumped. She wanted to get on the damn road and beat this heart stealing demon from Kyoto. _Goddess, I mean. _"Shizuru, can't we just race?" Natsuki asked…okay, _whined. _She was so damn impatient to get on the road.

Shizuru lifted a slender brow, though Natsuki couldn't see it. "Natsuki is so impatient…"

A fed up growl escaped from under the helmet. "Fine, what do you want?"

A slender finger tapped the bottom of a purple helmet. "Well, Natsuki knows what I want."

Natsuki swallowed.

"So what does Natsuki want?" Shizuru smiled ever so sweetly. She had no idea why she was smiling since she was technically wearing an actual 'mask' and no one could see her face. If they _could _see her face, they'd see sparkling wine-red eyes staring mischievously at their desire.

The crowd went silent as they waited to hear Natsuki's response.

"This will never work," Natsuki said after a minute, her husky voice so quiet, only those closest to her could hear it. "Because if I got what I wanted…or if you got what _you _wanted…we'd both be technically getting the same thing." Natsuki realized that if she wanted Shizuru, and Shizuru wanted her, no matter who won…well, they'd both win. Win-win. So what was the point of a wager? Besides, loving Shizuru might be her downfall but maybe it wasn't that bad of a way to go.

Shizuru's heart did a few hundred laps around the track. "Natsuki…"

"You guys are still here?!" Nao asked as she sped up on her blood red bike. "What the hell is—?" She noticed Mai's expression, which resembled the way she'd look when she saw a litter of kittens or something else entirely adorable. "Oh, someone said something gross didn't they?" Nao asked someone next to her. She only got a dirty look in response, causing her to huff and fold her arms.

Shizuru smiled. There was no point to make a wager after all since they both wanted the same thing indeed. Or well, at least that's what she hoped Natsuki meant. "Shall we race?" Shizuru asked happily. Her face turned to stare straight ahead.

Natsuki did the same. "We shall," she replied.

"I'm not taking it easy on you," Shizuru whispered. "I hope you'll understand."

Natsuki snorted. "I'd be insulted if you 'took it easy' on me," she said in her husky voice.

Shizuru nodded once and revved the engine. She waited for Mai to give the GO signal. A thought hit her. "Oh, and Natsuki?"

Natsuki, getting frustrated at all the distractions, glanced in Shizuru's direction. "Huh?"

"You don't take it easy on me either…"

Natsuki, yet again, snorted. "As if," she scoffed as she turned to face forward again. "You're the competition," she added, "I intend to beat you."

"Good." This would truly be no fun if either let the other win. Besides, this was what they both met each other for in the first place _anyways. _

"Is everyone ready?" Mai asked as she stood between the two racers. Nao didn't mind much that Mai had taken her job. She was too busy filing her nails.

The two racers nodded.

"On your mark," the two riders narrowed their eyes, "Get set…," their gloved fingers tightened around the throttle, "GO!" Mai yelled, though it was followed by a girlish squeal when the two racers zoomed by her. She held her skirt down and blushed something fierce.

Natsuki, as usual, was in the lead again. _Take that, Fujino. _Natsuki was _not _going to think of Shizuru as anything other than: Fujino, Kyoto champion. She didn't want anything to deter her from her main mission.

Shizuru, like the first race, was not far behind. She was pacing herself, taking her time in slowly inching up behind Natsuki's dark blue Ducati. _I've got you now…_

They turned the first curve, the one that had previously injured Natsuki's arm thanks to Tomoe. Natsuki was not worried this time. After the incident she had welcomed Chie to the Kuga Squad and told her to ride the track once before each race to make sure no traps had been placed anywhere. She hadn't _seen _Chie, but she knew Chie would've found her if she had come across anything important.

Natsuki was still in the lead. Oh this was great. This was heaven. Natsuki closed her eyes for a split second longer than was needed to blink, mostly because she liked the thrilling feeling of driving with her eyes closed. If closing them for an extra second longer than a blink counted or not she wasn't sure, but she wasn't crazy enough to try closing them for longer than that. Besides, she _really _wanted to win this race.

Shizuru was taking her time, as usual. Most of her races she always started off in second. She'd then slowly but surely pass her competition until she was way ahead of them. This race was no different. The closer she got, the more she found nervous emeralds glancing back at her in the side mirrors.

_No, Kuga, focus! Don't look at her! Look at the road. _

The yellow stripes in the road were going by so fast that it looked like the two lanes were separated by one continuous yellow line. Natsuki loved going fast. Speeding was the only word in her dictionary right now.

Shizuru slowly inched up behind Natsuki. She could tell her girl was skilled. It had taken her much longer to get this close to her than it would have had she been racing anyone else. Ah, well, she did enjoy a good challenge.

_She won't pass me, she can't pass me, there's no way in HELL she's going to pass me. _Natsuki chanted in her head, her eyes no longer looking in her side mirrors due to paranoia. Instead she focused yet again on the road in front of her.

A jolt of pain shot up her arm as she rounded the next turn. The motorcycle slipped slightly as she tried to regain balance. She felt her still sore arm begin to tear again as she fought to keep the motorcycle on track with all her strength and skill. Eventually her Ducati was controlled, and the only reason Shizuru hadn't taken this opportunity to pass Natsuki was because she was worried at the other biker's sudden loss of control.

_Ara, ara, what's wrong with Natsuki? _Shizuru wondered, her crimson lifting off the road to see if she could catch a glimpse of the emeralds through the girl's visor. She couldn't, yet she could tell from Natsuki's tense, rather than relaxed, posture that the girl hadn't meant to do…whatever had just happened. _Could it be her arm…? _Shizuru frowned. If Natsuki's arm was hurting…well, not only would this race be _unfair _but she didn't want Natsuki to further hurt herself. Why was this girl so stubborn?

Natsuki tried to get her breathing under control. Okay, she had almost lost control of her Ducati and could've fucked her arm up for good this time. _Shit, _she inwardly cursed. Maybe she should've held off the race until her arm had fully healed. _It hurts…ow, ow, ow, gotta focus!…But mother fuckin' OW…_

She wondered why Shizuru hadn't taken the clear opening to pass her. She could've sworn they agreed not to take it easy on the other? _Maybe she was worried…_ Natsuki thought. Still, Natsuki would've…._no…I would've known Shizuru was better than that and would have made sure she was okay instead of passing her. That must've been what Shizuru did._

Shizuru's eyes switched off between the road and Natsuki. Natsuki seemed to be okay now, though she seemed to mostly be steering with one arm, the other merely holding on loosely to the other handle. _It is her arm. Ara, we should've waited before we—_

The two racers sped by a car hidden off the side of the road. The man in the vehicle was wearing a police uniform. When a blur of dark blue and purple sped by, he spilled his Dunkin' Donuts coffee all over his lap and cursed. _MOTHER EFFIN' SONUVA BITC—_

The sound of a siren and the screeching of tires on asphalt caused both emeralds and crimson to glance quickly in their mirrors.

Natsuki scoffed. Cops? _Please. _Like they could catch her! She began weaving in and out of cars. Apparently they had hit some traffic. _So late? Oh well, not a problem. _She came so close to a red minivan she was sure the driver shit herself. _Heh, maybe I shouldn't pull the tricky stuff until my arm stops throbbing._

Shizuru lifted an elegant brow as she watched the navy blue Ducati in front of her begin weaving dangerously in and out of the few cars on the road. Her eyes followed Natsuki as the girl stopped her weaving and actually slowed down, her fingers uncurling from the handlebar as if she was in pain.

Shizuru frowned then glanced to the mirror again and saw the cop car just behind them. _Ara…should I stop? We could both easily lose him…and yet… _Images of spending a night alone with Natsuki ran through her mind. Sure, it would be in a police station…behind bars…but that wasn't really what was important now was it? Besides, Natsuki's arm was clearly in pain. She wasn't ready to race was she? It _couldn't _be safe. Shizuru began loosening her hold on the throttle.

_Ara…I am foolish. _

Natsuki, smug as a toddler who got away with stealing cookies, happily glanced into her mirror again to see just how far behind she had left Shizuru and the police. She blinked and forgot where she was for a second, causing her bike to swerve violently before she righted it again. This, of course, caused new jolts of pain to shoot up her arm and her vision to flash white briefly. "DAMMIT!" She hissed. When she was confident she was safe on the road again, she glanced into the mirror. Shizuru was falling more and more behind, the policeman getting closer and closer to the Kyoto-woman. _What is she doing?! _

Eventually the purple bike pulled over to the side. The policeman stopped his car right behind hers and sat in the car, typing in the license plate of the helmeted purple biker.

Natsuki growled, did a U-turn, and went back. _Going to kill her. Don't care if she's pretty. Going to kill…pretty…red eyes…sexy figure…beautiful lips…_

The navy Ducati swerved as its driver went into la-la land.

Natsuki quickly tried to get her mind back on track as she stopped next to Shizuru's bike and merely glared through the visor at the older girl. _I MEAN KILL. VERY MAD. GOING TO WIPE THAT SMUG SMILE OFF HER PRETTY FACE. _"Shizuru!" Natsuki hissed as she got off her bike and walked over to the older woman. She could practically see Shizuru's eyes swirling with amusement, a brow lifted as if to say '_yes, my dearest Na-tsu-ki?' _

Natsuki blushed at her dumb thoughts and pulled off her helmet, wincing slightly as her arm felt like it was on fire from the slight stretch, her ebony hair cascading over her face and down her back. "Why did you—" a sputtering noise came from the policeman's car. Natsuki and Shizuru glanced over and saw the policeman spilling coffee all over himself, though this time instead of cursing he merely continued staring at the raven beauty.

Natsuki blinked once before turning back to an even _more _amused Shizuru. "Take off your helmet, Fujino," she demanded.

Shizuru smirked, but complied and shook out her beautiful locks of brown. More sputtering was heard from the policeman. This time he got dagger-eyes from Natsuki and was promptly ignored by the Kyoto-goddess, whose eyes were already fixated on the Ducati-driving girl. "Kannin na, Natsuki…" Shizuru said with a slight tilt of her head, her eyes absolutely clear of any real guilt or apology. "I did not want him to catch us…"

Natsuki narrowed her eyes and then gestured to her bike. "That's why we have these. We use them. To drive _away." _She frowned and corrected herself, "_Speed _away." The shorter girl tucked the good arm's fist into her hip and waited for an explanation. When all she got was an amused look she growled, "Shizuru! This isn't funny! We've been putting this race off for—"

"And your arm, Natsuki?" Shizuru asked in her calm, yet somewhat creepy Kyoto-ben. Natsuki swallowed and averted her gaze. Shizuru nodded. "Exactly. You told me your arm was fine yet you nearly lost control out there—"

"My bike—!"

Shizuru shook her head. "No, your _arm. _I told you I don't want to race you until it's fair. It's not fair if you are injured." The red-eyed woman watched as a guilty shadow took over Natsuki's face. "We will make time for a rematch…" Shizuru said, her tone becoming soft. "But I don't want to risk you getting hurt again…"

Emeralds lifted to meet with rubies, which instantly trapped her gaze. "Sh-Shizuru…"

"Excuse me, ladies," the police officer's gruff voice came from the direction of the police car. They both slightly glanced at him, their looks dismissive. The police officer almost felt like he was in high school again, and the bullied 14 year old in him told him to run before the hot mean girls made fun of him in front of the whole cafeteria. "I-I-I'm…" he struggled to get his stutter under control. He hasn't stuttered for years now! "I'm…Officer—"

"Nakamura," Natsuki finished for him in her bored tone. When he gave her a bewildered look she merely rolled her eyes, leaned over, and flicked his name tag. "It says it on the tag right above your moob."

Officer Nakamura had never heard of the term 'moob' so he decided not to ask. "Uh, alright then."

Natsuki smirked at the man's apparent lack of vocab. "You can Google it when you go home," she said sweetly with a smile that made Shizuru giggle.

Nakamura instantly tagged the beautiful raven haired girl as the devil incarnate and then switched his confused gaze over to Shizuru, this one _must _be the angel. "Ms. Shizuru Fujino and Ms. Natsuki Kuga." His gaze flickered between the two. "You're both under arrest." He had typed both their license plates into his police cruiser's computer. Their names had come up and both were under suspicion (especially the Kuga one) of being involved in the underground racing ring they were trying to bring down.

Natsuki and Shizuru blinked in surprise. "Come again?" Natsuki asked as Nakamura reached for his handcuffs and moved towards Shizuru first. Natsuki put herself between the cop and Shizuru. "I said _come again, _jackass?"

Nakamura frowned and reached for his pistol. "Please don't resist arre—"

"Ara, ara, she won't. Kannin na, Officer Nakamura," Shizuru said as she easily took hold of Natsuki's shoulder and gently shoved the girl behind her. Shizuru smiled ever so sweetly. "Can I ask why we are being arrested?" _Can we not just get a speeding ticket?_

The man, who resembled a bear in, hair, muscle, and _overall_ dopiness in all, frowned at her. "You're asking me why the two girls running the illegal underground racing are going to the station? Not to mention your speeding…and your friend's trying to escape before you got caught."

Shizuru's eyes narrowed. "I let myself get caught. If I hadn't wanted you to catch me I wouldn't have let you," she declared.

Nakamura rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure. Turn around." He gestured with his meaty hands for her to twirl. Shizuru's eyes flashed dangerously but she refused. Instead she held her arms out in front of her.

Natsuki growled but decided to point out, "You can't prove we're running anything…and…" she averted her gaze cutely, "I'm pretty sure there's only _one _person running that thing." _And that would be me, not Shizuru._

The man merely huffed as he drew Shizuru's arms rather violently forward and then cuffed them together.

Natsuki's face laced with intense anger but she decided it was no use. Not only did the guy have their names, _but _he had already typed it into the system, meaning if she kicked his ass and left him somewhere the police station would still know who he had _tried _to arrest.

Nakamura placed a calm and slightly annoyed looking Shizuru in the back of the car before turning to face Natsuki. They both glared at each other, knowing that had the man been 20 years younger and _not _a cop, Natsuki would've given him an ass whooping he'd never forget. "Well," Natsuki asked with maliciousness dripping from her tone, "Are you going to arrest me, Officer _Baka_mura?" She smiled devilishly then, something she picked up from Nao.

It got the wanted effect. Officer Nakamura's eyebrow twitched and his hands clenched into fists as he stomped over to the girl. From inside his Police cruiser, Shizuru watched with a deep frown and intense concern.

_Ara, ara, Natsuki always has to be the trouble maker…_ Then again, they wouldn't be in the spot had Shizuru continued racing…but she didn't want to risk Natsuki getting hurt because of her arm. _This whole situation could've been avoided had Natsuki not lied about her arm. _

The Kyoto-woman winced as Nakamura growled something she couldn't hear and grabbed Natsuki, bending her over the hood of the car and slamming the handcuffs on behind her back. Her emeralds glared at the car as he made sure he locked the handcuffs right before he roughly grabbed her by the back of her rider suit and dragged her towards the back seat. The door opened and Natsuki was practically thrown across the seat, her head landing on Shizuru's lap.

Natsuki opened her eyes and found herself looking up into slightly annoyed, yet mostly worried, crimson. Natsuki gave her a sheepish grin. "I really couldn't help it…" She had complained about their bikes being left alone while they went to the police station. Nakamura hadn't seemed to care much about her precious baby so she asked him why his giant ass didn't offer to take the motorcycle's home since something _that _big should have a mind of its own by now. This, obviously, led to her being thrown rather ungracefully onto Shizuru.

Shizuru sighed and moved her handcuffed hands to gently push some raven locks out of Natsuki's eyes. "I know, dearest Natsuki, I know…" She was certainly glad she hadn't been handcuffed from behind like Natsuki.

Natsuki began an attempt at sitting up before Shizuru gently shoved her back down. The trouble maker lifted a brow in Shizuru's direction when the back of her head hit Shizuru's lap again. "Shizuru?"

Shizuru smiled. "Natsuki can stay there."

Natsuki shrugged and got comfortable. Lying down in the back of a police cruiser wasn't so bad when your head was resting on Shizuru's lap. "Okay," she said, a light pink tinge coming to her cheeks.

Officer Nakamura, now royally pissed off due to Natsuki's quick wit and rude behavior, glared at the two girls in his rearview mirror. "Don't get too cozy back there," he warned.

* * *

"How is Natsuki's arm?" Shizuru asked curiously after ten minutes of silence. They were still in the car, and Natsuki felt rather tired. It reminded her of behind rocked back and forth in a cradle almost. Strange, but had the same effect nonetheless.

Natsuki grumbled something and turned her head, though still on Shizuru's lap, away from Shizuru's questioning gaze. "It's fine," she said louder this time.

"I do not believe you," Shizuru said quietly, her cuffed hands moving to Natsuki's shoulder before gently moving downwards to the tips of the girl's fingers. Natsuki shivered slightly but stayed silent. "You should have told me," the Kyoto-woman whispered softly.

"It was fine, alright?" Natsuki muttered, slight annoyance in her tone. She felt bad almost immediately afterwards, her words had sounded much harsher than she had meant them to. She turned her head back around and offered Shizuru a small smile. "I didn't want to worry you…and I have…an image to uphold. Weakness is not my forte."

"Natsuki is not weak because her arm is in pain," Shizuru said with a slight frown. She moved her hands back to the top of Natsuki's arm again before trailing down it gently yet again, mostly just to see if she can get another shiver from the younger girl. "That doesn't make you _weak." _

Natsuki shivered slightly again, then frowned as if to hide that fact. "Still, people expect something of the racing champion so…I can't turn down a race or a rematch. Besides," she snuggled closer to Shizuru (though she completely avoided the older woman's amused gaze as she did so) and huffed, "I told you it really wasn't that bad. I thought I could race you and win with it."

"You could've raced me and gotten hurt—"

"Why did you kiss Tomoe?" Natsuki blurted out suddenly. Her eyes widened at what she just said. _WHY DID I ASK HER THAT?!_

Shizuru blinked. "Why did I…?"

The car came to an abrupt stop, causing Shizuru and Natsuki to slide forward. Natsuki fell off the leather seats, Shizuru on top of her.

"We're _heeere," _Nakamura practically sang as he turned the engine off and opened his car door. He slammed it so hard, the whole car shook. Natsuki couldn't understand why a cop working on a Saturday would ever be this happy.

Natsuki blinked up at slightly confused crimson, and then howled as Shizuru tried getting off of her friend without hurting her. "Kannin na, Natsuki!" Shizuru whispered as she struggled to get in a position where she could push off her cuffed hands.

"I said not to get too cozy!" Nakamura grumbled as the car door behind Shizuru opened.

Emeralds glared at him from under the brunette and yelled, "Well if you maybe knew how to drive!"

* * *

Once they were inside the police station Natsuki's arm began to throb. She whimpered slightly. Whether the whimpering was due to the pain or due to the fact that her arm was beginning to feel like she had just _reinjured _it wasn't clear. Shizuru offered Natsuki a concerned look but stayed quiet. Her mind was wondering where on Earth Natsuki had heard a thing like that. Sure. Shizuru _had _kissed Tomoe. But didn't Natsuki know about her past seduction tricks? Or wait…. _Ara, ara, I kissed Tomoe AFTER winning as well…which was completely unnecessary yet I did it all the same. Tomoe probably told Natsuki…_

"Shizuru…" Natsuki said through gritted teeth. "Ask them for…some pain killers or something…?"

Shizuru instantly nodded, all too happy that Natsuki wasn't afraid to ask her to do something. "Of course," she glided over to the woman behind the desk who was talking to another police officer. Not Nakamura. "Good day," Shizuru said politely, her bewitching smile in place, "you wouldn't happen to have any medication for my friend? She has an injury and—"

"I got you guys the _good _cell," Nakamura said as he approached them, a keychain swinging around his finger as he smiled at them. "You'll be here for two days unless someone bails you out earlier."

Shizuru and Natsuki exchanged glances, both wondering who the other had in mind to bail them out. Shizuru was actually counting on Tomoe. Tomoe had money and, hey, Shizuru felt like Tomoe owed her big time. Might as well make the girl useful (if she was awake by now anyways). Natsuki was considering Nao…but she wasn't sure whether she wanted Nao to know she was in jail or not.

* * *

The metal cell doors slid closed behind them. Natsuki groaned as she looked around. A disgusting toilet sat in one corner. _I think I can hold it for two days. I have a bladder of steel when it comes to disgusting bathrooms. _There were two beds on each opposite side. Shizuru wished they weren't connected to the walls so that she could push them together and maybe make one _big _girls both looked around for any _other _kind of furniture. Nope. Nothing.

"You _can't _be serious…" Natsuki murmured after a minute. She instantly turned around when she heard Nakamura laughing. "Hey, you!" She growled as she banged on the metal with her good arm. "GET BACK HERE! I want my damn phone call!" There was no way she was staying here for two days!

Shizuru watched as her cellmate's emeralds followed a disappearing figure down the hall. Shizuru sighed and sat down upon one of the beds. Natsuki turned around and stomped over to her own bed. She plopped down onto it and then sprawled over the piece of furniture like she had slept on it numerous times before.

"You look quite comfortable," Shizuru commented, mostly due to lack of anything else to say.

A huff. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore so," Natsuki shrugged and glared up at the chipping paint on the ceiling, "whatever."

The two fell silent. Shizuru shifted uncomfortably on the bed. She refused to lie down on it, who knows what kind of vagrant has been there before? It absolutely appalled her that Natsuki didn't seem to give a damn. "Na-tsu-ki…" Shizuru cooed, her soothing Kyoto-ben drifting over to the silent racer.

Natsuki tilted her head slightly to glance at the beautiful woman. "Yeah?"

Shizuru smirked and lifted ever so gracefully from her perch to glide over to Natsuki's side. She then sat on the edge of Natsuki's bed and merely continued smirking at Natsuki's lifted eyebrow.

"It worries me when you look at me like that," Natsuki said as she swallowed, her heart beginning to pick up speed at Shizuru's predatory gleam.

"Ara…does it?" Shizuru moved so that she trapped Natsuki's body under hers. Her arms were on either side of Natsuki's shoulders and her knees gently rubbed against the outsides of Natsuki's knees. She lowered her head towards Natsuki's, "Kannin na then…" she whispered, "Na-tsu-ki…"

Natsuki's heart stopped beating, her face turned bright red, and her eyes widened when Shizuru's lips met hers. They were kissing in a jail cell? Really? How unromantic can you get?!

_Okay, but this really isn't all that bad… _Natsuki thought dreamily as her lips moved with Shizuru's, her eyes finally closing to enjoy the moment. She let out an involuntary moan, and wrapped her arms around Shizuru's waist, tugging the brunette's body against hers.

_"Shizuru…"_ Natsuki whispered in her husky voice with half-lidded, dazed eyes when Shizuru pulled back enough so that she could press light kisses to Natsuki's jaw line and then neck. Natsuki was barely aware of what was going on outside of what Shizuru was doing to her. Shit, how did someone have such an effect on her? It was damned embarrassing and slightly horrifying…yet exciting at the same time.

The photo Tomoe had shown her of Shizuru and her kissing flashed in her mind. "W-Wait a second," Natsuki said suddenly as she remembered it. Shizuru lifted off the younger girl and watched her with a slight frown.

"What is it?" Shizuru asked curiously, her eyes searching Natsuki's face for any signs of her going too far too fast. If that _was _the case, she'd be damned surprised. She really hadn't gotten that far…

"You never…" Natsuki took a second to get her breathing under control, "you never explained Tomoe…Tomoe's kiss…" Natsuki averted her gaze from Shizuru's intense one.

"Ah…" Shizuru whispered. How to explain this? She really couldn't. "It was just a kiss," Shizuru said with a carefree tone. "It didn't mean any—"

"But this does?" Natsuki asked, her eyes lifting to meet Shizuru's dead on. "Your kiss with her meant nothing but this kiss means something?" Natsuki wiggled under Shizuru's body, causing the older girl to sit up on her knees and watch Natsuki sadly. "How do I…know? I mean you're so…" _good at acting. And I think I'm in love with you or something but how do I know Goddammit? Wait, were we just kissing?_

"I care for Natsuki…deeply…" Shizuru tried. "I know my emotions haven't seemed honest…and truthfully you are the only person I have ever been so honest about with them…" Shizuru moved off Natsuki's bed and walked slowly back to her own. "I know you know I care for you, and I also know you're afraid." _Of me hurting you? _She sat down on the edge of her bed and backed up so her back rested against the cell wall. "But I can promise you that I am not faking anything with you." Shizuru's crimson flashed in the dark. "All my feelings for you are genuine."

Natsuki sat up and watched Shizuru carefully from across the room. She felt slightly guilty but that annoying nagging part of her mind constantly told her she was falling for something. Something Tomoe had fallen for obviously, since they both seemed to think Shizuru cared for them. Would Shizuru turn to her one day and say _'I never felt anything for you, it was an act_' in that cold voice she could make sometimes? Natsuki shuddered at the thought, though she knew part of her fear was unwarranted and ridiculous. Shizuru liked her…right? And she liked Shizuru…as dangerous right now as that may be.

"I…" Natsuki frowned at her inability to articulate what she wanted to say.

Shizuru shook her head. "I understand, Natsuki…I will wait for you for as long as it takes," she said quietly, her eyes swirling with sadness and regret.

"Ah…" Natsuki mentally kicked herself, beat herself, and then hung herself. "Sh-Shizuru I…I'm afraid of…falling…in love with…you." _Though I think it's too late for me. _Natsuki quickly averted her gaze and felt her cheeks burn up under Shizuru's surprised gaze.

Shizuru smiled. "I have already fallen in love with Natsuki." She said it like it was the most obvious, natural thing in the world. It blew Natsuki's mind. How was Shizuru so _sure? _They haven't known each other that long. It just wasn't possible to be in love that soon!

Emeralds shyly peeked at Shizuru. Her cheeks were tinged with pink. "That's…"

"Hey!" Nakamura clanged a police baton against the cell bars, causing both the girls to jump from the surprise.

"What?" Natsuki hissed, her emeralds flashing dangerously in the darkness of the cell.

Nakamura swallowed, feeling like he had just interrupted something important. _Oooh well. _"You girls get one phone call each," he said in a voice that was supposed to sound powerful but really just sounded pathetic.

Natsuki and Shizuru both stood up and waited for Nakamura to open the cell doors.

* * *

Natsuki glanced nervously at a calm looking Shizuru and a grumpy looking Nakamura as she waited for Nao to pick up the phone. She hoped she had gotten the number right. With cell phones these days, well, who memorized people's numbers? And it's not like she had her cell phone. During races it was just her, leather, and her bike. She assumed the same went for Shizuru since Shizuru didn't seem to have a cell phone on her either.

_"Hello? Is this Doctor Rose?"_ Someone (that was definitely not Nao) asked.

Natsuki blinked, "Uh…" _God damn wrong number…_

_"This is Nabatame,"_ the person on the other side continued, _"I hurt my arm and I think I need a sling or drugs or someth—"_

"You hurt your arm?" Natsuki asked, not realizing she was talking to someone she didn't know anymore, "Me too!" Natsuki had found someone that felt her pain!

_"Really?" _A pause._ "Wait…who is this?"_ The person on the other line seemed to realize she wasn't talking to 'Doctor Rose.'

"Nats—oh, I definitely have the wrong number." Natsuki hung up and glanced at Nakamura, "Do I get _one _more call since I kind of forgot—" _Nao's damn number._

"Nope," Nakamura said with a smug smile. He thumb-pointed behind him. "You lost your chance. Hopefully your friend here has a brain." Shizuru smiled slightly at that, her dark eyes twinkling with amusement at Natsuki's expression.

Natsuki glared. "You want to go, jackass?"

Nakamura lifted a slightly graying brow. "You really want to play that game, girlie?"

"Ara…I get my call now, correct?" Shizuru asked in her soft Kyoto-ben, a dangerous weapon when it came to diffusing tension. It worked almost instantly.

Nakamura and Natsuki instantly stopped glaring at each other to look at a pleasantly smiling Shizuru. Nakamura spoke first. "Yes, miss. Phone's all yours." He gave her a small smile and a slight nod. Natsuki rolled her eyes.

Shizuru glided over to the phone and dialed a number. "Mm…hello?" Shizuru said into the phone when someone picked up. Natsuki listened to the conversation. She was unable to hear the other person's voice but Shizuru's tone was light, happy, and yet demanding all at the same time.

Who was she talking to? And then…

"Ara, ara, I think you owe me…" gave it away.

Natsuki blinked, growled, and walked away, leaving a confused Shizuru staring after her.

* * *

**Haha random place to cut it off I know. I cut it off here because…well…this chapter was getting too long for NFFTC and I couldn't find a good place to cut it off. Plus the next part I think would work better in the next chapter. **

**Anyways. Hawaii rocks (kinda). I wrote most of this during the one night we spent in LA. Now that this is done I'll start the next chapter of Monster… I have daily updates on the status of the chapters in my profile so check on those to see where I am in the process of both fics.**

**This fic is coming to a close I think. Next chapter should be the actual rematch (and no they don't start all over from the starting line and stuff, don't worry…I want to get that over with too). The police station thing just happened in my head so I went with it. **

**Oh…and the ending will be explained next chapter (angry Natsuki, not Nabatame lol that was sort of an inside joke). In fact, any questions you have? Next chapter. Adios.**

**-Shayp**

**P.S**

**Thanks to Andrea (as usual) since she beta'd this chapter (yay for the first chapter of NFFTC to be beta'd!) **

**Oh and I can't believe I almost forgot this (bad Shayp bad!):**

http://me-doty-77. deviantart. com/art/The-Competition-127979624 (remove spaces)

**Thanks to Medoty77 who did awesome fanart :D I mean, look how awesome that is! The bike looks mad cool and…Shizuru in leather? Yes please! Check out the rest of her art work it's also very nice! Thanks again! (This link will also be available in my profile)**


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